.C56 



m 




Sketch OF THE Life 



OF 



BYt. Brig. Gen. Syhester ChiircMll, 



Inspector General U. S« Army. 



I . I . I J. I HI.IUH I III 1. 11 1 .W II . IM IIHMIIIIIIIIII III " ' Ill III H ill 



K/ 




Class__LlLL- 



SKETCH OF THE LIFE 



OF 



BvT, Brig. Gen. Sylvester Churchill, 



INSPECTOR GENERAL. U. S. ARMY, 



NOTES AND APPENDICES, 



BY 



/ 

FRANKLIN HUNTER CHURCHILL. 



NEW YORK: 
\Vii.i,is McDonald ^: Co., Printers, 25 Park Row 

1888. 



EI !H1 






PREFACE. 



In the year 1884, two gentlemen of my name, residing in or 
near Boston, requested me to give them such information as I 
possessed concerning a branch of the descendants of John 
Churchill, of Plymouth, Mass., their ancestor and mine. I was 
not able to render them much assistance. In fact, I am under 
obligations to them for valuable information. I never had any 
taste for genealogy. But, from my earliest recollection, my father 
had some memoranda concerning his ancestry, and to these he 
made additions at various times. In the latter part of his life, he 
prepared a compilation which I found among his papers. Using 
it as a basis, I added a few facts which had not been ascertained, 
and brought everything down to a later date. This I did for the 
benefit of some young relatives of mine. After the receipt of the 
request, which I have mentioned, and in order that I might com- 
ply with it,_ I endeavored to obtain full particulars concerning the 
descendants of my father's brothers and sisters, but have not ac- 
complished all that I wished. 

In the course of my correspondence with those gentlemen, one 
of them wrote to me : " You have much in your father's history 
towards making a readable book." It is the result of this sugges- 
tion that the following sketch has been prepared. It was my in- 
tention, when it was commenced, to make it quite brief, and, on 
its being printed, to distribute it, with all the information in my 
possession concerning the descendants of my father's brothers 
and sisters, as well as of his own, among his adult relatives, and 
to ask for corrections and additions. This is all I contemplated. 

The work grew upon my hands, and, as I think, in accord 
with the intrinsic merits of the subject treated. Irrespective of 
what might otherwise have been the case, the fact that my father 
was an officer of the army for fifty years prevented his exercising 
any influence in matters of legislation, or in giving shape to the 
measures of Government, State or National. But, public events 

[iii] 



IV 



determined the course of his life, and he participated, personally 
and actively, in many occurrences which form parts of the history 
of the country, and some of which had important and lasting re- 
sults. It is clear that, from early life, he took much interest in 
public affairs. He had nearly attained his majority when the 
Louisiana purchase was made, a transaction preceded and fol- 
lowed by much excitement. It may be said that " The West " 
assumed importance after his active life commenced. Certainly, 
with the exception of the present State of Louisiana, and a few 
settlements in the present State of Missouri, all of the country 
west of the Mississippi was a wilderness. The railroad and the 
magnetic telegraph were introduced and carried to perfection 
after he had passed his middle age, making changes in the meth- 
ods of travel and communication which the present generation 
cannot realize. The contrasts presented by those events are 
made apparent in the sketch. His activity continued till near . 
the beginning of the civil war, and he lived to be made sad by 
that occurrence. 

There are still in the army, as in private life, a few who knew 
my father personally, and there are more who were his contem- 
poraries in the service, though separated far from him in years and 
rank. I think that the sketch of the life of one who was their 
contemporary will be interesting, I hope that it will be interest- 
ing to others. I have sometimes regretted that it did not occur 
to me to prepare this sketch twenty years and more ago, Avhen a 
much larger number of my father's contemporaries were living. 
But, probably, the time was not opportune. The war had termin- 
ated so recently, and the conditions which resulted from it en- 
grossed so much attention that there was no room for the consid- 
eration of remote events- The army w^as in a chaotic condition, 
and there had been a large infusion of a crude element, not yet 
assimilated, to which the history and traditions of the army went 
for but little. The present is the more opportune time, and I 
fancy that there are some officers who will be pleased to read a 
narrative which will enable them to connect the past and present 
of the army. 

I am of the opinion that I add to the interest of the narrative 
by giving, in notes, the outlines of the military life of every one of 
my father's companions in arms who is mentioned in the sketch. 

I think that the brief accounts of the military life of my 



brothers and my only nephew, which I have given, will also add 
to the interest of the sketch. It is exceptional that three succes- 
sive generations in a family should be represented in the army. 

These considerations have induced me to give a wider distri- 
bution to the sketch than was originally contemplated. I intend 
to send copies to the survivors of the graduates of 1840, a few of- 
ficers of the army, retired or still in the active service, and a few 
civilians who, as I think, take a special interest in the occurrences 
mentioned or subjects treated. But I do not know the addresses 
of all the persons indicated, relatives and others. In addition to 
this, there are some officers of the army, as I have intimated, as 
there may be civilians, who, seeing the book, or hearing of it, 
may wish to obtain copies. In order that these wants may be 
met, if there should be any, the persons who print the book will 
be authorized to sell copies on terms to be named by themselves; 
but there will be an agreement with them that it is not to be 
placed upon the market or advertised, and that press notices are 
not to be obtained. I am averse to any such proceedings. They 
would not be consistent with my purposes in writing the sketch, 
or its scope and tenor. I have written it as I would tell it to any 
one wishing to learn the events of my father's life. The same 
statement applies to the notes. Many of the details refer to mat- 
ters of a domestic nature ; and, though most of them are connect- 
ed with public events, and nothing is told the knowledge of which 
need be limited, the book is not to be thrust before the public. 
It is probable that it will reach certain classes of persons, as speci- 
fied, and this will suffice. The appendices have been written in 
a spirit somewhat different, it is true, but they are largely inci- 
dental. 

The military reader will see that I have obtained most of my 
information concerning officers of the army from Gardner's United 
States Army Dictionary, Cullom's Biographical Register of the Of- 
ficers and Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy, the Army 
Registers of various years, and a Register of the Graduates of the 
Academy, corrected to Sept. ist, 1886, recently published. Some 
changes have taken place within a few months past ; but, lest, if 
I should attempt to make the necessary alterations, all might not 
be included, I think it best to allow the statements to remain as 
they were written. I have placed some reliance upon newspaper 
slips, which seemed worthy of credence, and which I have been 



VI 



collecting for several years. When I mention the Brevet Rank 
conferred upon an officer for his services in connection with any- 
specific occurrence, and not for his general merit, I have, in most 
cases, given the date of the occurrence, and not the date when 
the brevpt was actually conferred. I have been guided, in some 
matters, by various Cyclopaedias, the U. S. census of different 
dates, and the American Loyalists by Lorenzo Sabine. It may 
be well to state that, where the marks [ ] appear in a quotation, 
they include explanations or comments of my own. 

I add a few sentences concerning myself. I have mentioned 
a suggestion which was made to me. I had hardly examined and 
began to arrange the materials which were in my possession (my 
father's journals, a large number of letters received by him, and 
drafts of his reports and official letters), and was still endeavor- 
ing to obtain, by correspondence, some information which I de- 
sired, when I had an attack of sickness, which has, apparently, 
made me an invalid for life. I do not move with ease, as in for- 
mer years. I write slowly and with difficulty, and often with 
pain, and I have been obliged to avail myself of the assistance of 
an acquaintance in order that a legible manuscript might be pre- 
pared for the compositors. Under these circumstances, to re- 
write, or, even, to re-arrange the matter which has been prepared, 
is almost out of the question. These facts will account, I trust, 
for any want of sequence, or connection, or for any confusion in 
what I have written. The only changes which I have found it 
possible to make, have been to entitle, as appendices, matters 
which I intended for notes ; and sometimes a portion of the mat- 
ter, as originally prepared, has been placed under each head. 
After I decided upon this change the appendices were much en- 
larged. All were suggested by some portions of the sketch, but 
some have no connection with it. If it should be objected that I 
have aired my opinions unnecessarily in the appendices, the of- 
fense is not serious, even though the objection is well taken. 

It is due to Messrs. Willis McDonald & Co., the printers, 
and especially to Mr. D. H. Jones, who has acted for them, that I 
should acknowledge my obligations to them and him. 

Brooklyn, April 12th, 1888. 

F. H. Churchill. 



SKETCH. 



The subject of this sketch was a descendant of 
John Churchill, of Plymouth, Massachusetts. It 
is supposed that the latter emigrated directly from 
England to Plymouth, but in what year, or from 
what part of England he came, or when or where he 
was born, is not known. It is supposed, by those 
who have investigated the matter, that he came from 
Dorsetshire. From him and Josias, who was an 
early settler of Weathersfield, Connecticut, William, 
who settled in New York previous to 1672, and Wil- 
liam, who came from Oxfordshire and settled on the 
Rappahannock in Virginia, in 1666, are descended, it 
is believed, all persons of the name or blood of 
Churchill in the United States, except those, if there 
are any such, who have recently arrived in this coun- 
try, and the descendants of such persons. It is sup- 
posed that John Churchill was the first who estab- 
lished himself in the Colonies.* 

In the 4th volume of the New England Histori- 
cal and Genealogical Register (Boston, S. G. Drake, 
p. 255,) is: "August, 1643. The names of all the 
males that are able to beare armes from XVI yeares 
to 60 yeares w^^in the severall Towne Shipps." 
Among the 148 names mentioned is John Churchill. 
At Plymouth, December i8th, 1644, he married 

* Note I. 



Hannah Pontus. In the 5th volume of the Regis- 
ter mentioned, p. 259, is an extract from the will of 
William Pontus, who was one of the grantees of 
Plymouth, dated Sept. 9th, 1655, mentioning " my 
son-in-law John Chuichill and Hannah his wife." 
John Churchill died at Plymouth, between Decem- 
ber 24th, 1661, and February iith, 1662. This ap- 
pears from his nuncupative will and the inventory 
of his personal property which are "on record. He 
was apparently a person of substance. His will men- 
tions uplands and " meadowes" in Plymouth, includ- 
ing fifty acres of land lying at Mannomett Ponds, 
other land at Punckatusett, "the old dwelling-house" 
and his " new house." That he was not only " able 
to beare armes" but had provided himself with arms 
and munitions of war is proved by the following ex- 
tract from the inventory mentioned : 

LB. S. U. 

2 guns 5 10 00 

A sword and shott pouch, 2 pound of 

powder and 4 pound of shott 00 12 10 

The inventory also includes household effects and 
farming tools, oxen, " cowes," steers, " heiffers," calves, 
and " 2 sowes and three Piggs." 

The children of John and Hannah Churchill 
were: Joseph, I/a;i7ia/i, horn November 12th, 1649; 
Eleazei% born April 20th, 1652 ; Mary, born August 
8th, 1654; William^ born 1656, and JoJin^ 

probabl}^ born in 1658. It is supposed that they are 
named here in the order of birth. All of these chil- 
dren, with the exception of Mary, are named in their 
father's will. The date of the birth of Joseph, and 
that of his death, are not known. 



Joseph Churchill married Sarah Hicks, June 
3d, 1672. It is tliought that Sarah was a daughter 
of SamueLj a son of Robert. The last named was a 
morocco dresser in London, and was one of the 
grantees of Plymouth. In 1639 he conveyed land to 
Samuel. 

The children of Joseph and Sarah Churchill 
were : yohn^ born July 3d (or 2 2d), 1678 ; Margaret, 
born October , 1684 ; Barnabas, born July 3d, 

1686; and Joseph, born January , 1692. 

Barnabas Churchill married Lydia (or Lidiah) 
Harlow. The date of the marriage, her parentage, 
and the dates of her birth and death, and the date of 
the death of Barnabas^ are not known. 

The children of Barnabas and Lydia Churchill 
were: ^^r/^^^^^^i-, born October icth, 1714; William, 
born December 5th, 1716; Ichabod. born January 
1 2th, 1719;* Joseph, born May 19th, 1721; Lemuel, 
born July 12th, 1723; Isaac, born May 30th, 1726; 
Tho77tas, born April 30th, 1730; Ebenezer, born No- 
vember 9th, 1732; Lydia, hoiw March 24th, 17^!;* 
and John, born May 9th, i739.f 

Joseph Churchill, last above named, was mar- 
ried to Mariah Ryder, September 23d, 1745, at Ply- 
mouth, by Rev. Nathanial Leonard. She was born 
December 2d, 1724, and was a daughter of Samuel 
Ryder and Mary (Sylvester or Silvester) Ryder. 
Samuel was born November 15th, 1698, and was a 
son of John Ryder and Hannah ( ) Ryder. 

Samuel and Mary were married at Plymouth by a 
Mr. Little, November 2d, 1722. 

* Note 2. t Note 3, 



The children of Joseph and Mariah Churchill 
were : Ic/iabod, born August 9th, 1746 ; Joseph, born 
July 14th, 1748; and Lucy, born August 22d, 1750. 
These children, it is understood, were born at Ply- 
mouth. Joseph died at Plymouth soon after his 
daughter Lucy was born. His widow married 
Archippus Fuller, and moved to Woodstock, Ver- 
mont, in or about the year 1777. There were five 
children by the second marriage of the widow : Coji- 
sidci\ Seth, Samuel, Polly, and Maj'iah. 

Joseph Churchill, son of Joseph and Mariah, 
lived from his boyhood until he was twenty-one years 
of age, with Doggett, at Middleborough, Ply- 

mouth County, Massachusetts. A grandson of Dog- 
gett lived, in 1852, on the same place one mile from 
the " New Works " Village, and, at that time, a part 
of the old house was still standing. On March 21st, 
1 771, at Middleborough, Joseph was married to 
Sarah Cobb, of the same place, by Peter Oliver, 
Justice of the Peace. Sarah, who was born Septem- 
ber 20th, 1747, was a daughter of Gershom Cobb, 
Junr., and Meriam * (Thomas) Cobb. Gershom and 
Meriam were both residents of Middleborough, and 
were married March 3rd, 1739. Meriam died soon 
after her daughter, Sarah, was born, and the latter 
then lived with a maternal aunt, Mrs. Vaughan, till 
she was married to Joseph Churchill. In 1852, a 
widow, a daughter of Mrs. Vaughan, and who, there- 
fore, was a cousin of Sarah Cobb, aged ninety-one 
years, lived on the same place. The house was new, 
but the site was the same. She resided with a daugh- 

* This, I understand, was the spelling, but, no doubt, it should have 
been Mirianti. 



5 

ter, wife (or widow) of Col. Benjamin Wood. She 
must have been born in or about the year 1761, and, 
therefore, was ten years old when her cousin, Sarah, 
was married. Sarah had a brother, TJiomas, born 
March 13th, 1742. Her father, Gershom, married 
again, and had children as follows: William^ John, 
Joanna^ and Lydia. 

Sylvester, one of the sons of Joseph Churchill, 
and the subject of this sketch, stated that it was gen- 
erally understood that his father was in the American 
army in the war of Independence, and was in or near 
the City of New York at the time of the Battle of 
Long Island. 

Joseph and Sarah resided at Middleborough till 
1777, and then moved with their three children to 
Woodstock, Vermont, and established themselves on 
a wilderness farm on the north side of the Queechy 
River, two and a half miles west of "The Green," by 
which name the principal village in the town of 
Woodstock was known, between the farms of Captain 
Phinehas Williams and Rev. Samuel Damon. It may 
be stated that Thomas Cobb, above mentioned, the 
brother of Sarah, and their stepmother, the second 
wife of Gershom, and who survived him, and her four 
children, also above mentioned (the half brothers and 
half sisters of Tho7nas and Sarah), all moved to 
Woodstock in or about 1777. 

The farm at Woodstock was quite extensive, and 
it appears that Joseph Churchill was a man of sub- 
stance. This is made evident by the fact that, among 
the things done by him for the benefit of the public, 
he gave a site for a school-house near his residence. 
The Baptists were a numerous denomination in the 



vicinity, and a pond on Joseph Churchill's land, or. 
possibly, a bend or eddy in the Queechy River near 
his residence, was a favorite place of resort for baptism, 
and some of his sons were fond of telling that when- 
ever, during their boyhood, baptisms were to take 
place, it was their duty and, possibly, their pleasure, 
to remove from the water all the leaves, branches and 
rubbish which had accumulated since the spot had 
been last used for the purpose of baptism. 

In those days, on every farm, almost every branch 
of mechanical operations, not requiring the attention 
of a skilled artisan, was conducted by the farmer and 
his sons and hired men. Not only were fences and 
walls built but tools were repaired and sometimes 
made, carpentry and cabinet-making, and the simpler 
forms of working in leather and iron were understood 
and carried on. Such was the state of affairs on the 
farm of Joseph Churchill. All of his sons had 
some experience in such things, as well as in becom- 
ing practical farmers ; * and one of them, Sylvester^ 
acquired the skill of a master workman. 

In 1819, Joseph, being about 71 years old, and 
Sarah moved to Stowe, Vermont, where all their 
daughters were then residing. Joseph died in Stowe 
in 1823, and Sarah in the same place in 1836. If 
their eight children, four sons and four daughters, 
who survived them, were their only children, as seems 
to have been the case, their longevity is remarkable. 
They lived to an average age of eighty years. Their 
son, Sylvester, states in a memorandum made by 
him, that all of their children survived them. It is 
possible that some children, of whom he never heard, 

* Note 4. 



7 

died in early infancy ; but it is not possible that any 
child died after that time of life without his having 
heard definitely of the fact. 

Those eight children of Joseph and Sarah were: 
Levi. Miriam, Sarah, Lucy, Joseph, Sylvester, Isaac, 
and Susan. The sketch, as originally prepared, in- 
cluded all of the descendants, living and dead, of the 
eight children, so far as they could be ascertained, but, 
for the reason that it is to be distributed more widely 
than was intended, as stated in the Preface, it is 
limited to the descendants of Sylvester. The de- 
tails, here presented, may be of interest to those who 
knew him, or one or more of the others who are 
named. 

Sylvester Churchill was born at Woodstock, 
Vermont, August 2d, 1783, and died at the City of 
Washington, D. C, December 7th, 1862, in the 80th 
year of his age. At Windsor, Vermont, August 30th, 
181 2, he married Lucy Hunter, a daughter of 
William Hunter and Mary (Newell) Hunter, 
who was born at Windsor, July 17th, 1786, and died 
at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, September 6th, 1862. 

Children of Sylvester and Lucy Churchill. 

(A.) Helen Susan was born on Governor's 
Island, in the Harbor of New York, May 29th, 1817, 
and died there September 27th, 18 18. 

(B.) William Hunter was born at Fort Wood, 
Bedloe's Island, in the Harbor of New York, July 8th, 
1 8 19, and died at Point Isabel, Texas, October 19th, 
1847. At Savannah, Georgia, December 17th, 1844, 
he married Elizabeth Margaret Cuyler, a daughter of 
Richard Randolph Cuyler and Mississippi (Gordon) 



8 



Cuyler, who was born at Savannah, March ist, 1823. 
She is livin^^, and is temporarily in Europe. 

Child of William H. and EHzabeth M. Churchill. 

Richard Cuyler was born at Savannah, Georgia, 
December 12th, 1845, and died in the Town of 
Ossining, near the Village of Sing Sing, Westchester 
County, New York, June 24th, 1879. At the City 
of New York, November 22d, 1866, he married 
Josephine Young, a daughter of Henry Young and 
Anne (Mason) Young, who was born at Brooklyn, 
New York, on the day of October, 1847. 

She is living, and is temporarily in Europe. 

Children of Richard C. and Josephine Y. 
Churchill. 

(^) William Hunter was born at Fort Dela- 
ware, Delaware, September nth, 1867. 

(<^) Anne Mason was born at Fort Delaware, 
Delaware, March 15th, 1869. 

(^) Maud was born at the Military Academy, 
West Point, New York, July 12th, 1871. 

(</) Elizabeth Margaret was born at Ossining, 
near the Village of Sing Sing, May 22d, 1875, 3"*^ 
died at , September 14th, 1875. 

(e) Richard Randolph Cuyler was born at 
Ossining near the Village of Sing Sing, November 
2d, 1877. 

The four living children are with their mother in 
Europe. 

(C.) Mary Helen was born at Windsor, Ver- 
mont, August 30th, 182 1. At Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 
August 8th, 1846, she married Spencer Fullerton 
Baird, a son of Samuel Baird and Lydia (Biddle) 
Baird ; who was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, Feb- 



ruary 3d, 1823, and died at Wood's Holl, Massachu= 
setts, August 19th, 1887. 

Child of Spencer F. and Mary H. C. Baird. 

Lucy Hunter was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 
February 8th, 1848. 

Mrs. Baird and her daughter are living at the 
City of Washington, D. C. 

(D.) Franklin Hunter was born at New Ut- 
recht, Kings County, New York, April 2 2d, 1823. 

He resides at Brooklyn, New York. 

(E.) Charles Courselle was born at Alleghany 
Arsenal, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July i8th, 1825. 
At Portland, Maine, April 22d, 1868, he married 
Alice Dow, a daughter of William H. Dow and Delia 
L. ( ) Dow. 

Captain Churchill and Mrs. Churchill reside at 
Newport, Rhode Island. 

Sylvester Churchill remained on his father's 
farm until about the time of reaching his majority, 
and received the tuition which was to be obtained in 
the school or schools of the vicinity. He had a natu- 
ral fondness for acquiring knowledge, and a great 
aptitude for figures. In those days, however, nothing 
was taught in the schools in the way of mathematics, 
beyond what was contained in the arithmetics which 
were then in use. It is understood that he added to 
the schooling which he obtained, or, rather, applied 
what he had learned, and fixed it in his mind, by 
being, himself, for a short period of time, a teacher in 
a school. Mention has been made of his skill in me- 
chanical pursuits ; and it naturally followed that, 
when he left his father's house and started in life for 



10 



himself, he betook himself to those pursuits. How 
long and where and under what circumstances any 
such occupation was followed, is not known ; but it 
is remembered that he spoke to his family, in subse- 
quent years, of having been engaged in the construc- 
tion of a bridge at Glen's Falls, in New York, and of 
the Old State House at Montpelier, in Vermont, 
which stood near to and east of the site of the present 
State House."^ In what position he was thus em- 
ployed is not known, and probably was never stated. 
There can be no doubt that, had circumstances been 
favorable, he would have reached distinction both as 
a civil engineer and an architect. The practical 
knowledge thus acquired was of great service to him 
in after life at the various posts at which he was sta- 
tioned, and in operations in the field. Not only did 
he work, for his amusement, with his own hands, in 
making small articles for domestic use, but he was 
able to instruct and supervise others in all construc- 
tions in which wood, iron, brick, stone, mortar and 
cement were used. There was no laborer, mechanic, 
or "artificer" whom he could not equal, if necessary, 
with his own hands. In his early manhood he took 
an active interest in politics as a member of the Dem- 
ocratic-Republican Party ; and in the year 1808, be- 
came the part owner and publisher, at Windsor, Ver- 
mont, of a weekly newspaper called the Vermont 
Republican, an organ of that party. He continued 
in that position until 181 2, and the newspaper exerted 
an active influence in continuing the political control 
of the Democratic Party in the State of Vermont. 
The electoral vote of that State was cast for John 

* Note 5. 



II 



Adams in 1796 and 1800; for Thomas Jefferson in 
1804; and thereafter for James Madison and James 
Monroe. At the time that Mr. Churchill was thus 
occupied, every country newspaper was but a part of a 
general printing and publishing concern * and with it 
the business of book-binding was often conducted. 
Hand-presses alone were used. The publisher and 
editor was a practical printer, and was personally 
familiar with all the details of printing, from the set- 
ting of the type till the newspaper was ready to be 
issued or the book to be pubHshed.f Such was the 
case with the Vermont Republican, with which a 
bookstore, also, was connected, and in his connection 
with it, Mr. Churchill cultivated and practically ap- 
plied his natural tendencies towards accuracy in de- 
tails and completeness in the execution of any matter 
of which he had charge. In after life nothing was 
ever done by him in a slovenly manner, and nothing 
entrusted to his care, and which he had time to com- 
plete, ever left his hands in an incomplete condition. 
He was careful to observe, in all his writing, the rules 
of punctuation. Naturally, and by training, punctu- 
ality, also, was considered by him a matter of the first 
importance, and was always observed. To his chil- 
dren he taught the importance of punctuation and 
punctuality, and punctuality w^as required by him of 
them and of all those who were under his command. 
To these qualities, in matters of detail, were added 
those of an inclination and ability to discharge with 
mdustry, thoroughness, and perseverance, any duty 
entrusted to him ; of self-reliance and confidence, 
without presumption ; much inventive capacity of his 

* Note 5. t Note 7. 



12 

own, and a readiness to investigate, and, when ap- 
proved by himself, apply, the ideas and methods of 
others, some fondness for innovations and departures 
from usual methods, and the ability to make use of 
all the appliances which were at hand fitted to accom- 
plish the end or object in view. These qualities were 
called into play in after life, and contributed largely 
to his future success. He fortunately possessed, in 
addition, a hopeful disposition, a well balanced mind, 
judicial impartiality, a robust frame, and, at most 
times, perfect health. He was about five feet eleven 
inches tall, had brown hair and gray eyes, and his 
complexion was fair, clear, healthful and ruddy. In 
appearance he approached the English type. It was 
near the end of his life that he lost any of his teeth, 
or that they gave him a moment's trouble. His sense 
of hearing became very defective, but that of seeing 
was exceptionally good. Though he used spectacles, 
he could dispense with them on an emergency under 
ordinary circumstances. In connection with the sub- 
ject of personal characteristics it may be added that 
he was dignified in deportment and language, and 
was rather taciturn. By most persons he was consid- 
ered unapproachable and cold, but such coldness was 
that of appearance only. He was a man of warm 
sympathies and kind feelings, and was always ready to 
aid by word or deed any one who required aid. But, 
it is true, that people were generally a little afraid of 
him, and that no one, who knew better than to do so, 
ever presumed to treat him with familiarity."^ He 
ate with moderation, never drank spirits except 
medicinally, and drank wine merely in compliance 

* Note 8. 



with social usages, and then sparingly. Tobacco in 
every form he detested. Without being censorious 
as to profanity, he rarely uttered a profane word.* 
He was, naturally, rather pugnacious, but was not 
quarrelsome, and never manifested any vindictiveness, 
malice or spirit of revenge. He was tenacious of his 
own rights, and sensitively thoughtful concerning the 
rights and feelings of others. This was the result of 
his innate characteristics, and his military life. 

On the 1 2th day of March, 1812, having declined 
a Captaincy in the Infantry, he received the commis- 
sion of a First Lieutenant in the Third Artillery, 
U. S. Army. He remained in the army until the 
time of his death in December, 1862, a period of over 
fifty years. Through what influences, or for what 
reasons, this position was obtained is not now known, 
and the writer of this sketch never heard the subject 
mentioned. It is not to be doubted, however, that 
the commission was conferred upon him, in part, at 
least, in recognition of his services to the Democratic 
Party of which Thomas Jefferson was the exponent 
and acknowledged head. It is to be supposed that 
Lieut. Churchill had read but little concerning mili- 
tary affairs, and all that he had ever seen of military 
manoeuvres was what he had seen on "training days," 
in a remote country village. But his qualifications 
did not diff"er from those of a vast majority of the 
citizens who received commissions in the regular 
army. As to the regular army itself, by the Act of 
March i6th, i8o2,f it was to consist, in addition to 
one Brigadier General, the General Staff", Surgeons 

* Note 9. + U. S. Stat, at Large, vol. 2, p. 132, Ch. IX. 



and Surgeons' mates, and a small Corps of Engineers, 
of a Regiment of Artillery composed of twenty com- 
panies divided into five battalions, and two regiments 
of Infantry, of ten companies each, and to this force 
was added, by the Act of April 12th, 1808,* two 
Brigadier Generals, Brigade Staff Officers, Hospital 
Surgeons, and Hospital Surgeons' mates, a regiment 
of Light Artillery, to consist of ten companies, a reg- 
iment of Light Dragoons, to consist of eight troops, 
and five regiments of Infantry and one of Riflemen, 
of ten companies each. The companies were, on 
an average, about twice as large as they are at the 
present time. This force, in proportion to the pop- 
ulation and geographical extent of the country, was 
as large as it has been at any time since in time 
of peace. There was no increase of the army 
thereafter until war with England was threatened 
and preparations were made for it. The Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point was established by 
the Act of March i6th, 1802 ; but, prior to the 
year 181 2, only 71 cadets had graduated, and the 
course of study and the discipline and efficiency of 
the Corps of Cadets, do not admit of comparison with 
what they became in subsequent years, and, espe- 
cially, during the long and able superintendency 
of Colonel Sylvanus Thayer,f which extended 
from 181 7 to 1833. Outside of the regular army 
there were but few who had personal experience in 
military affairs. In 181 2 over thirty years had elapsed 
since the termination of the active hostilities of the 
War of Independence, a period of time twice as 
long as that between the fall of Quebec and the 

* U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. 2, p. 481, Ch. XLIII. t Note 10. 



15 

Battle of Lexington. In the war of 1812-14 there 
were several officers who had served in the war of 
Independence, but no one of the number ever became 
conspicuous." On the other hand, the " Old French 
War " furnished to the Colonies, in their struggle with 
England, many persons, both officers and soldiers in 
the ranks, still in the full vigor of life, some of whom 
became prominent and distinguished. A number 
might be named, but it is sufficient to name George 
Washington. The writer of this sketch remembers 
that, in his early boyhood, he occasionally read no- 
tices of the deaths of very aged men in which it was 
stated that they served in the 'Old French War" as 
well as in the war of American Independence.f 

The Company of Artillery to which Lieutenant 
Churchill was attached, was raised by himself. It was 
under his sole command during the greater part of 
the period of his connection with it, and gained a high 
reputation for discipline and efficiency in the exercises 
and manoeuvres of what is now termed Light Artillery. 
As has been already stated, a Regiment of Light 
Artillery was organized in 1808, and in that Regi- 
ment every man was separately mounted, as was the 
case in Ringgold's battery some thirty years after- 
wards. But, in addition to this, in many of the com- 
panies of the three other regiments of Artillery, the 
men rode upon the caisson chests, as is the case at the 
present time with the two light batteries in each of 
the live regiments of Artillery. At the beginning of 
the war of 181 2-14, and during its entire continuance, 
there was no system of exercise and manoeuvres for 
artillery prepared by any American author and estab- 

* Note II. t Note 12, and Appendix A. 



i6 



lished by the Government. Consequently, officers 
who desired to become familiar with such matters, 
were obliged to avail themselves of anything which 
fell in their way. In November, 1849, Gen. Churchill 
wrote upon this subject as follows: " I obtained the 
first book that fell in my way, by chance, in July, 

1813, ' Stoddart's Exercise and Manoeuvres for Field 
Artillery,' and in August I could perform them with 
very considerable accuracy and celerity."* Lieut. 
Churchill served with his company under General 
Henry Dearborn,f and subsequently, in the summer 
of 18 13, constructed a parapet on the heights north 
of and near Burlington, Vermont, placed in it a bat- 
tery of thirteen heavy guns, and, with this battery, 
gave protection to Commodore McDonough's fleet, 
when, crippled by a storm and otherwise weak- 
ened, it anchored under this shelter for repairs, and, 
while in this condition was attacked by the British 
fleet. In August, 18 13, he became a Captain in the 
ordinary course of promotion. He served under 
General Wade Hampton,J and performed the duties 
of Ordnance Officer in the Chateaugay Campaign. 
On the 29th of August, 18 13, he was appointed 
Assistant Inspector General, with the rank of Major, 
and served in this capacity until the end of the war, 
but retained, at the same time, his Captaincy in the 
Artillery. He was with General James Wilkinson § 
in the attack on La CoUe Mill, was, subsequently, on 
the staff of General George Izard, || and was with him 
on the march of a large force under his command, in 

1814, from Lake Champlain to the Niagara River,^ 

*Note 13. t Note 14. | Note 15. 

§ Note 16. II Note 17. 1 Note 18. 



17 

and, finally, was on the staff of General Alexander 
Macomb * at Plattsburg. The writer of this sketch 
has before him a printed order \vith the heading : 
" H. Q. CHAMPLAIN DEPARTMENT, 

AdJ2ita7it Generals Office^ 

May 30th, 181 5." 
and terminating : 

" By command, 

S. CHURCHILL, 

Acfg Adj't Genir 

This order incorporates a general order issued 
from the Adjutant and Inspector General's office at 
Washington, and dated May 17th, 1815, and signed: 

" By order of the Secretary of War, 
D. PARKER t 

Adjt. and Iiisp. Genir 
and which order gave the details of " the military 
peace establishment," the methods of the selection for 
this establishment from the non-commissioned officers, 
musicians, and privates, whose terms of service had 
not expired, and the names of all the officers retained 
in the service on the reduction of the army. Captain 
Churchill was retained as Captain in the Corps of 
Artillery which had been formed from the ist, 2d and 
3d Regiments of Artillery by the Act of March 30th, 
1 8 14. J The reduction of the Army was made pursu= 
ant to an act dated March 3d, iSi5,§ which provided 
that, in addition to the General Officers, the General 
Staff, the Corps of Engineers, the Ordnance and 
other Departments, the Military Peace Establishment 

*Note 19. t Note 20. 

\ U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. 3, p. 113. Ch. XXXVII. 
§ U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. 3, p. 224, Ch. LXXIX. 



i8 



should consist of Artillery, Infantry and Riflemen, in 
such proportions as the President should judge pro- 
per, not exceeding ten thousand men, and thereupon 
the President decided that there should be a Corps 
of Artillery of 32 companies or eight battalions, one 
regiment of Light Artillery, of ten companies, the 
Infantry, eight regiments of ten companies each, and 
a regiment of Riflemen of ten companies. '^^ 

Captain Churchill was stationed at Plattsburgh till 
1816, and subsequently at Governor's Island, Bedloe's 
Island, and "The Narrows" in the Harbor of New 
York.f The defensive works on Governor's Island 
were : Fort Columbus, built on the site of Fort Jay, 
the latter having been demolished in 1806, Castle 
Williams, named after Colonel Jonathan Williams, J 
of the Engineers, and, possibly, the South Battery. 
On Bedloe's Island was Fort Wood, named after 
Lieut Colonel Eleazer D. Wood,§ of the Engineers, 
who was killed on the 17th of September, 1814, in a 
sortie from Fort Erie, and at "The Narrows" was 
Fort Diamond, afterwards Fort Lafayette. During 
the time that Captain Churchill was stationed at " The 
Narrows" the latter name was substituted for the 
former in honor of General Lafayette, who made his 
last visit to the United States in the years 1824 and 
1825. Fort Hamilton, named after Alexander 
Hamilton, had not, as yet, been constructed. Captain 
Churchill, who was in command, resided on the main- 
land. In honor of the raising of the flag, for the first 
time, over the fort with its new name, he entertained, 
at dinner, a number of guests, among whom were the 

* Note 21. t Note 22. X Note 23. § Note 24. 



19 

members of the Common Council of New York. 
They, as a body, were very unlike most of the Alder- 
men of the present day. General Winfield Scott,* 
hearing that an entertainment was to take place, sent 
him, as a present, a basket of champagne to be used 
on the occasion. It was a gift very acceptable to a 
Captain of Artillery. 

By the Act of March 2d, i82i,f reducing and re- 
organizing the army, the regiment of Light Artillery 
and the Corps of Artillery were abolished, and four 
regiments of Artillery were created of nine companies 
each, one to be designated and equipped as Light 
Artillery. Captain Churchill was assigned to the first 
regiment. On the 15th of August, 1823, he received 
the brevet rank of Major for "ten years' faithful ser- 
vice" as Captain, pursuant to an Act of July 6th, 



1812 + 



By the Act of March 2d, 1821, already mentioned, 
the Ordnance Department was merged in the Artil- 
lery, and it was further provided that all ordnance 
duty should be discharged by officers to be selected 
by the President from the Artillery regiments. This 
system continued until 1832, when the Ordnance De- 
partment was again established as an integral part of 
the army. § In the spring of 1824, Bvt. Major 
Churchill was selected for ordnance duty, and from 
that time till the spring of 1828, he was stationed at, 
and in command of Alleghany Arsenal, which was 

* Note 25. 

t U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. 3, p. 615, Ch. XIII. 

I U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. 2, p. 784, Ch. CXXXVII. 

§ U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. 4, p. 504, Ch. LXVII. 



20 



then in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and 
now, on account of the growth of that city, is within 
its limits. The duties of the position gave him an 
opportunity to exercise the skill and indulge the tastes 
which have been mentioned, and, consequently, were 
very agreeable to him.* While he was in command 
of the Arsenal it was visited by General Lafayette 
and the Duke of Saxeweimar Eisenach, a son of the 
Grand Duke then reigning, who travelled in all parts 
of the United States from July 26th, 1825, till June 
1 6th, 1826. He was a highly educated gentleman, 
and one of a liberal mind and free from prejudice 
Of this any one will be assured who will read an 
account of his travels published in Philadelphia in 
1828, by Carey, Lea & Carey.f 

In the spring of 1828, Bvt. Major Churchill, 
having served four years on ordnance duty, was 
ordered to join his company, " D," ist Artillery. 
Having obtained leave of absence he went with his 
family to Vermont, spent the summer in that State, 
making, in the meantime, a brief visit in Essex 
County, New York, on the west side of Lake 
Champlain, and, in the fall of 1828, sailed from New 
York for Wilmington, North Carolina, on the brig 
New Hanover, Hallett, Master.^ This was the first 
voyage of the brig. Then, on a sloop or schooner he 
went to Smithville, North Carolina, near the mouth 
of the Cape Fear River, 25 to 30 miles below Wil- 
mington, joined his company at Fort Johnson § at 
that place, and there remained till the spring of 1835, 
Prior to this time he had never been south of Wash- 

* Note 26. t Note 27. J Note 28. § Note 29. 



21 



ington or west of Pittsburgh. Fort Johnson was a 
fort but in name. The only defensive work was a 
building in the form of a block house, the lower story, 
the walls of which were about three feet thick, being 
formed of a hardened mixture of broken oyster shells 
and mortar or cement, and the upper, which projected 
beyond the lower in the usual manner, being con- 
structed of timber. Fort Caswell,* on the eastern 
end of Oak Island, at the mouth of the river and on 
the right bank, and two miles below Smithville, was 
in process of construction during the entire seven 
years, and was substantially completed at the end of 
that time. The officer of the Corps of Engineers, 
who was in charge of the construction of Fort Cas- 
well, was Captain, and after the month of June, 1834, 
Bvt. Major Blaney.f While stationed at Fort John- 
son, Bvt. Major Churchill, in addition to visiting the 
neighboring posts, in North Carolina and South 
Carolina, and possibly Georgia, as a member of the 
various Courts Martial, went to the country of the 
Cherokees, an Indian Nation, on some duty assigned 
to him. In August, 1830, occurred one of the few 
disturbances among the negro slaves which took place 
in the United States during the existence of slavery. 
To use the language of the "Cyclopaedia of Political 
Science, Political Economy, and United States His- 
tory," Article Slavery, Vol, 3, p. 731, " No slave race 
has organized so few slave insurrections as the negro 
race in the United States. * * * It is certam 
that revolt, during their history as slaves, was reg- 
ularly individual, and that most of it was only revolt 
by legal construction." Whether the slaves were posi- 

* Note 30. t Note 31. 



I 



22 



tively contented with their lot, or whether they were 
contented by reason of their having no sense of de- 
privation of right, and no conception of any other 
condition of affairs as suited to persons of their race, 
or as ever to be attained by them, it is certain that 
they, as a mass, were perfectly contented, and it is 
equally certain that the relations between them and 
their owners were generally relations of good feeling 
on both sides, kindness on the part of the owners, and 
confidence on the part of the slaves. Those, who 
asserted the contrary, either asserted it through igno- 
rance, being governed by what they thought would be 
their own feelings if slaves, or indulged in the recog- 
nized, though, in this case, vicious, license of romance, 
or knowingly and maliciously falsified the facts of the 
case.* The writer has not been able to learn to his 
satisfaction what was the cause of the disturbance 
which took place in August, 1830, or to what extent, 
geographically, it prevailed. He was a mere lad at the 
time, and he has had no opportunity to consult books 
or contemporaneous publications, or to confer with 
any of the survivors of those who lived in the vicinity 
at the time. He remembers that there was an intense 
excitement in Smithville and Wilmington, near which 
latter place there were many rice plantations cultivated 
exclusively by slaves; that the white women and 
children, residing at Smithville, flocked for safety into 
the inclosure which constituted, with the barracks and 
other buildings within it, what was known as Fort 
Johnson, and that it was reported that large bodies of 
armed negroes were on their way toward Wilmington, 
devastating the country as they moved. It appears, 

* Appendix B. 



23 

from the papers on file in the Adjutant General's 
office in Washington, that Bvt. Major Churchill re- 
ported, on the 22d of August, 1830, "that there was 
great excitement among the citizens on account of an 
apprehended insurrection among the negroes, and that 
the Commissioners at Smithville, N. C, have applied 
to him to aid them in suppressing it, should an attack 
be made, and also to afford protection, in the garrison, 
to the women and children of the town ; and, further, 
that the alarm had so much increased that his quarters 
on that evening were filled with women and children." 
In point of fact, in the vicinity of Smithville, at least, 
there w^as no insurrection or, so far as appeared, a 
thought of one. The excitement subsided almost as 
rapidly as it arose, but, still, the circumstances left a 
feeling of insecurity and anxiety in the minds of the 
people. On the 9th of December, 1830, General 
Macomb, the Commanding General, instructed Major 
Churchill, "that, in consequence of information re- 
ceived at the War Department from the authorities of 
Wilmington, N. C, that there was strong evidence of 
a disposition among the blacks to insurrection, it had 
been thought proper to assemble a respectable military 
force in or near the town, with a view to averting, by 
its presence, any evil consequences that might arise 
from that disposition, and to suppress, by force, any 
insurrectionary attempt, that two companies of the 
ofarrison at Fort Monroe would be ordered to Smith- 
ville by sea, and that, on their arrival at that placCj 
Major Churchill should assume command of the de- 
tachment, and, if thought proper or advisable, he was 
authorized to add to it a portion of the garrison at 
Fort Johnson, * * * and proceed, without delay. 



24 

to Wilmington on the transport which should convey 
the troops from Fort Monroe, and on his arrival at 
Wilmington, Major Churchill was directed to concert 
such measures and arrangements with the authorities 
of that place as may be best calculated to produce the 
desired effect." On the same day, Colonel J. B. Wal- 
bach,* commanding at Fort Monroe, was instructed 
to detail two companies of his garrison for service 
at Wilmington. The order proceedeci as follows : 
" The object in view, to be prepared to meet any in- 
surrectionary m^ovements which may take place at Wil- 
mington or vicinity about the period of the Christmas 
Holidays. The object of this movement not to be made 
known except to the commander of the detachment," 
etc., etc. In compliance with the foregoing, Com- 
panies "A" and " G," ist Artillery, armed as infan- 
try, left Fort Monroe on the 19th of December, and 
arrived at Wilmington on the 24th of December. 
Major Churchill designated the location of the de- 
tachment under his command as " Station McRee," 
in honor of a distinguished officer, a native of Wil- 
mington, late in the Corps of Engineers,f and report- 
ed that he did not deem it necessary to augment the 
detachment by any portion of the garrison at Fort 
Johnson. While at Wilmington Major Churchill 
endeavored to ascertain the condition of affairs and 
the feelings of the people in the neighboring portions 
of the State, and, in reference to those subjects, wrote 
to the Commanding General on the 1 7th of January, 
1 83 1, as follows: " I hav^e the honor to acknowledge 
the receipt of your letter (from Lieut, Cooper, Aid- 
de-camp) of the loth, by the mail of yesterday. On 

* Note 33. t Note 33. 



25 

the 3d, at noon, I set out for Nevvbern for the pur- 
poses mentioned in my letter to you of the previous 
day. On my way there I inquired of several of the 
most respectable gentlemen along the road respecting 
the excitement, and was informed by all of them that 
they have no fears of a rising of the negroes in the 
country at present ; but that, in the event of an in- 
surrection in the towns, they are apprehensive many 
of their negroes may be induced to join in it. Some 
gentlemen, who own large plantations, have spoken 
to their negroes, whilst others have thought it more 
prudent to say nothing on the subject. Very severe 
regulations have been enforced by the patrols during 
the holidays. At Newbern the fears of the people 
have so much subsided that the Intendant did not 
think a company of troops necessary for the safety of 
the place. * * *." The detachment left Wilmington 
on the 2d of May, 183 1, and marched by way of New- 
bern and Washington to Plymouth. There it took 
water transportation, passed through the Dismal 
Swamp Canal to Norfolk, and thence went to Fort 
Monroe, where it arrived on the 14th of May. In 
those days this movement by two companies of regu- 
lar troops was considered a great display of force. 
Of the commissioned officers of the detachment one 
was from Massachusetts, two (one being Bvt. Major 
Churchill) from Vermont, one from New York, one 
from Maryland, and two from Virginia.* At the ex- 
piration of this temporary duty Bvt. Major Churchill 
resumed his command at Fort Johnson. f 

* Note 34. t Note 35. 



26 



On the 6th day of April, 1835, Bvt. Major Church- 
ill became Major of the 3d Artillery, in the ordinary 
course of promotion, and was ordered to Fort Sulli- 
van (named after Governor Sullivan, of Massachusetts), 
Eastport, Maine. Accordingly, he proceeded north,* 
and, after having passed a portion of the summer in 
Northern New York f and Vermont, joined his post 
in the early part of the fall of 1835. J He was then 
52 years old, had been in the army for 23 years, and 
a Captain for 22 years. 

In the fall of 1835 hostilities commenced with the 
Seminole Indians in Florida, and continued with 
brief intervals until the summer of 1842. (They 
were renewed subsequently, at long intervals, and in 
a limited degree ) At the same time there were ap- 
prehensions of hostilities with the Creek Indians, 
and afterwards with the Cherokees. By a treaty 
dated March 24th, 1832, the Creeks had ceded all 
their lands east of the Mississippi for an equivalent 
area west of that river, but many of them refused to 
remove, and resisted removal, on the alleged ground 
that the chiefs and other persons, w^ho had made the 
cession, had no authority to act for the nation, and, 
therefore, had not bound it. On the other hand, a 
large portion of the whites were not disposed to ad- 
mit that Indians had, or could have, any rights (and 
in this they were in accord with the feelings which 
have too often controlled the white people in every 
part of the United States in their relations with the 
Indians), and w^ere determined to " dispossess the in- 
habitants of the land and dwell therein." (Numbers, 

* Note 36. t Note 37. J Note 38. 



2/ 

ch. xxxiii, v. 53.) It is not necessary, for the pur- 
poses of this sketch, to consider the merits or demer- 
its of either side, or to give details of the proceedings 
by which the removal of the Indians was finally ef- 
fected. It is sufficient to say that, after threats on 
both sides and preparations for attack on the part of 
the whites, and for resistance on the part of the In- 
dians, the removal of the latter was finally effected 
through the interposition of the United States with- 
out much, if any, bloodshed* 

The Creeks were a powerful nation or tribe, and 
in 18 1 3 and 18 14 had fought vigorously and with 
large forces against troops under the command of 
General Jackson,f General Floyd, J and others. 

On the 30th of May, 1836, Major Churchill re- 
ceived an order, of which the following is a copy : 

" IV. Major Churchill, of the 3d Reg. Artillery, 
will repair to Fort Mitchell, and report for duty to 
the Commanding General." (Fort Mitchell, named 
after an Indian agent, David B. Mitchell, was on the 
right bank of the Chattahoochee River, which, at that 
point, and in a large part of its course, is the dividing 
line between Georgia and Alabama, and was near the 
old Southern Road to New Orleans. It has been 
long discontinued.) 

At this time the subject of. this sketch commenced 
the most important part of the work of his life, and 
this work continued for more than twenty-three 
years. His travels, in every form, amounted to many 
tens of thousands of miles. He was never in the 
Pacific States, nor, except during the war with Mexi- 
co, was he west of the Posts which were in the pres- 

* Note 39. t Note 40. J Note 41. 



28 



ent State of Kansas and the Indian Territory; but, 
within those Hmits, he travelled in every State time 
and again, extending his travels to the most inacces- 
sible portions of many of them, and resorting to 
every known means of conveyance. It may be men- 
tioned here that, according to the H. V. Poor's Man- 
ual, there were but 1,273 miles of railroad in the 
United States in 1836, and that, in 1841, excluding 
Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, there were but 974 
miles in all the States south of Penn. and the Ohio 
River. At one time, in the latter part of the summer 
of 1842 (Mrs. Churchill and a colored man-servant 
being with him), he started in two-wheel Canadian 
carts, without springs, each seating two persons, of 
whom the hired driver was one, from the right bank 
of the St. Lawrence River, at the mouth of the Riviere 
du Loup, crossed the "divide" between the head 
waters of the branches of the St. Lawrence River and 
those of the branches of the St. John's River, and 
then proceeded in birch bark canoes, each carrying 
three persons, of whom the hired paddler was one» 
through Lake Timiscouta, the Madawaska River, and 
the St. John's River to Fort Kent,* at the junction of 
Fish River with the St. John's. Thence they returned 
by canoes and by barge to the mouth of the Aroos- 
took River, and then by wagon to and from Fort 
Fairfield,"'^ on the right bank of the Aroostook River. 
The fall of 1843 and the following winter were passed 
in the northern parts of Georgia and Alabama in the 
examination of claims for horses lost in Florida, made 
by persons who had been volunteers. Mrs. Churchill 
was with him.f He had, as assistants in this duty, 

* Note 42. t Note 43. 



29 

Lieutenants William T. Sherman * and Richard P. 
Hammond f of the 3d Artillery, and two or three 
civilians, one of whom was his youngest son, Charles 
C. Churchill. A part of the country through which 
they travelled, most of them on horseback, was the 
theatre of a portion of General Sherman's celebrated 
campaign more than twenty years afterwards. 

A glance at the map of the United States in 1835, 
and a brief consideration of the means of travel exist- 
ing at that time, will enable the reader to appreciate 
the vast change which has taken place in the condi- 
tion of affairs in the United States within the last 
fifty years. The writer has before him a school atlas 
published in 1835, and which he used when in school 
at Eastport, Maine, in 1835 ^^^ 1836. It shows that 
there were 26 States. A large part of the State of 
Michigan, then limited to the lower peninsula, is 
marked " Ottoway Indians." The upper peninsula of 
Michigan, the present State of Wisconsin, and so 
much of the present State of Minnesota as lies east 
of the Mississippi River, are marked as the " North- 
west Territory." Green Bay Settlement and Prairie 
du Chien are credited, by name, to the whites, and 
the words "Chippeways," " Menomonees," and " Win- 
nebagoes," occupy the rest of the space allotted to the 
Territory. In the State of Illinois a line marked as 
the Indian Boundary commences on the Mississippi 
at the mouth of the Rock River, crosses the Fox 
River, and reaches Lake Michigan a short distance 
north from Chicago, which appears upon the map, 
but which, only a few years previous, consisted of a 
few houses clustered near Fort Dearborn. This 

* Note 44. t Note 45. 



\o 



''■ Fort," which stood on the right bank of the Chicago 
River, near Lake Michigan, and was named after 
Secretary of War and, afterwards, General, Dearborn, 
already mentioned, afforded protection to the inhab- 
itants of the vicinity during the " Black Hawk War " 
of 1832. A large portion of the northwestern part 
of Georgia is marked "Cherokee Indians," whose 
boundaries are in part well defined. Their posses- 
sions apparently extended into North Carolina and 
Tennessee, and certainly into Alabama, a large part 
of which State was occupied by the Creeks. Nearly 
one half of the State of Mississippi is marked as 
in the recognized possession of the Choctaws and 
Chickasaws. In Florida the possessions of the Sem- 
inole Indians are indicated by a boundary line, but, in 
point of fact, they ranged, during the war, from the 
Okefinoke Swamp, on the Georgia line, to Cape Sable ; 
and there were times when no white person's scalp was 
safe between those limits except in the immediate 
vicinity of the villages. The area of this part of the 
State of Florida was equal to that of the entire State 
of New York, and, yet, people wondered why the 
troops did not find the Indians, and thought that 
they were inactive. The fact is that the Indians 
never fought unless they were in ambush, or in 
superior numbers, or, unless, when attacked by supe- 
rior numbers, defense was necessary, in order that, 
during the delay caused by the conflict, an escape 
might be made. West of the Mississippi there were 
the State of Missouri and the larger portion of the 
State of Louisiana, and in the former the " Kicka- 
poos," " Delawares/' and "Shawnees" appear. Ar- 
kansas Territory occupies the space now known as 



Arkansas and the Indian Territory. All of the resi- 
due, east of the Rocky Mountains, was known as 
"Missouri Territory," and is so named in the Atlas ; 
and in the western and southwestern parts appears, in 
large letters, " Great American Desert. This de- 
sert is traversed by numerous herds of Buffaloes and 
Wild Horses, and inhabited by roving tribes of In- 
dians." These words run over the boundary into 
Mexico. Texas appears in the Atlas as a Mexican 
State, but without defined boundaries. California is 
not named, but the words " Unexplored Region " 
may be seen, and, also, a large lake named " Lake 
Timpanogos," with a large river flowing from it, and 
having its outlet in the " Bay of Sir F. Drake." 

It is probable that the travels of Major (after- 
wards Colonel and Bvt. Brig. General) Churchill 
within the United States were never exceeded, modes 
of conveyance, as well as distance, being taken into 
consideration, by those of any other person. From 
June, 1836, till the summer of 1841 (with brief inter- 
vals, which will be noted in their order), he was en- 
gaged in the military operations against the Indians. 
At various times he served w^ith the troops in the 
field, being, for a brief period, in command of his 
regiment serving as Infantry, but, having been as- 
signed to the position of Acting Inspector General 
by General Jesup,"^' and afterwards by General Taylor,f 
he was mainly occupied in inspecting troops and 
posts, and in mustering into the service of the United 
States Militia and Volunteers from Florida, Georgia, 
and Alabama, and in discharging them at their re- 
spective homes on the expiration of their terms of 

* Note 46. t Note 47. 



32 

service. His travels in those States were mainly on 
horseback, and no doubt more hours were passed in 
this form of travel than in all other forms combined. 
Concerning the nature of those services, and their 
value, it is sufficient to insert a copy of a letter ad- 
dressed to him by the Adjutant General of the Army, 
as follows : 

" Adjuta-xt General's Office, 

Washington, May 24th, 1838. 
Sir : 

In acknowledging the receipt of your letters of 
the 1 2th and 13th instant, transmitting Muster Rolls 
and a return of the Georgia mounted brigade, it 
gives me pleasure to state that they are well executed 
and satisfactory in every respect. I wish the same 
promptness oftener characterized other mustering offi- 
cers, so that the calls of Congress, &c., might be 
answered with more accuracy and dispatch than they 
have been. 

I am, sir, 

Very respectfully, 

Your obt. servant, 

R. JONES, 

Adj't Gen'l. 
Bvt. Major 

S. Churchill, 
3d Artillery, 

Calhoun, Tennessee." 

(The address of "Bvt. Major" was incorrect. 
F. H. C.) 

To return to the narrative : For want of an ear- 
lier conveyance Major Churchill left Eastport on the 



33 

afternoon of June 5th, '■' on the Revenue Cutter (Cap- 
tain Coolidgc in command), and arrived at Owl's 
Head the next day. Thence he proceeded by the accus- 
tomed route and means of convevance, waiting at Co- 
lumbus, Georgia, for some detachments, in the rear, to 
arrive, and reported to General Jesup at Fort Mitchell 
on the 26th of June. In his journal he states : " On my 
way stopped at Smithville, to my great delight, at one 
o'clock on the iSth, where the news of my arrival was 
carried quickly through the village, and there was a 
rush of all classes and all colors to see me. Dined 
with my friend Ruggles,f and passed four hours in 
the place. Had no sea sickness south of Portland. 
In Charleston saw Captain Hallett from Mobile." 
At Fort Mitchell he was assigned to the command of 
four companies of regular troops, and marched to 
Montgomery, Alabama, most of the distance through 
what was then a wilderness country, as a guard for a 
large number of emigrating Indians, warriors (in 
chains), squaws, and children. The duty of the troops 
was to prevent escapes, and to resist the attack of hos- 
tile Indians, in whose country the march was partly 
made. Major Churchill had also been apprised by 
General Jesup, that it was in contemplation by some 
of the whites in Georgia to force the guard and to 
rescue the prisoners. ;{; He afterwards learned that the 
contemplated attempt was abandoned in consequence 
of its having been ascertained that regular troops had 
been employed to guard the prisoners. The journal 
states that the first house occupied by a white faviily 
was 49 miles from Fort Mitchell. At 'j'^ miles from 
Fort Mitchell the line dividing Alabama and the In- 

* Note 4S. t Note 49 * Note 50. 



34 

dian nation was crossed. This duty closed at Mont- 
gomery. 

A few condensed extracts from the journal may 
be interesting: "July 3d, Sunday. This morning I 
took charge of the emigrating Indians guarded by my 
own proper command of four companies, and resumed 
the march at half an hour after sunrise. One com- 
pany formed the front guard, then followed the war- 
riors in chains, with another company on their left 
and right, and extended from front to rear, as a flank 
guard. One company guarded the right and left of 
the squaws and children, who followed the warriors, 
in the same manner. Next after the squaws were 
seventeen wagons, belonging to the contractors, con- 
taining provisions for the Indians, children, &c., &c., 
and six wagons of my detachment, and after these 
was the fourth company, as a rear guard — all the 
troops with loaded muskets — and the march was by 
the Federal, or old road by Fort Hull, and other posts 
(now in ruins) established by Gen. Floyd in 18 14. 
« -X- * Yhe column, in close order, occupied half a 
mile, but extended, when marching, usually a mile, 
often more. * * ■J^ j had [at night] the Indians, 
women and children included, within an inclosure of 
logs, or log fence, under a guard of about thirty men, 
commanded by a Lieutenant, and another guard, in 
addition to the mounted men [about ninety in num- 
ber who reached the camp the first night and were, 
thereafter, while with the detachment, under the com- 
mand of Maj. C] of the same strength, beyond all, to 
protect the camp. "' " * 5th, Tuesday. Having 
passed through the country occupied by hostile In^ 
dians, the squaws this night, and afterwards, were not 



35 

kept within the chain of sentinels. After halting 
each night, and after the prisoners (chained Indians) 
were placed on their ground, the squaws were em- 
ployed in cooking and supplying them with food, 
water, bushes for shade and covering, but were not 
allowed, after the first two nights, to be with them 
between dusk and reveille. During the day, on the 
march, they assisted the prisoners to water and food. 
■^ * * 6th, Wednesday. This night three Indians 
withdrew their hands from the shackles and then 
withdrew themselves from our camp, with a musket 
shot after them, without effect, by one of the senti- 
nels. Two squaws were found asleep near the place 
in the chain vacated, and were yoked or harnessed in 
the place of the men as a warning, but taken out the 
second day after. * * * 12th [at Montgomery]. 
In the removal of about fifteen Indians from the 
chains, identified as having committed offenses against 
the State of Georgia, and ordered to be brought back 
for trial, one of the Indians seized a hatchet and 
struck the person who was engaged in riveting the 
new irons on his hands and ran to escape. He was, 
however, intercepted in his fiight, and shot within a 
hundred yards. * * * Another Indian, the father 
of the other, I believe, and who, it was supposed, was 
encouraging him to do the deed, was bayonetted 
through the body, but was alive two days after. The 
Indians were submissive and obedient to all orders 
and directions during our march, and soon learned to 
range themselves in rows on any indicated line, for 
sleeping at night." 

On the termination of this duty Major Churchill 
was appointed Inspector General of the Army of the 



South. In the discharge of the duties of this posi- 
tion he went to Montgomery, Huntsville, and Clays- 
ville, at which last named place he mustered a battal- 
ion of twelve months' volunteers into the service of 
the United States. On reaching Fort Mitchell again 
he was relieved from staff duty, and assigned to the 
command of a battalion composed of several compan- 
ies of regulars and one of volunteers, and with this 
force he proceeded to Tampa Bay * at which place he 
arrived on the 15th of Oct., i836.f Early in the year 
1837, having been again assigned to staff duty, he 
accompanied the troops under the command of Gen- 
eral Jesup to the interior of Florida. On the 14th of 
January he met with an accident, the circumstances 
of which are described in the journal, as follows : 
'' While giving directions, when we halted this even- 
ing, for making a pen to secure the cattle which had 
been taken on this day and yesterday,J; a tall pine 
tree, about five inches thick at the base, cut by one of 
the pioneers, who was not careful to apprise me of its 
fall, struck me on the back and tip of my left shoul- 
der, knocked me forward off my horse (a very high 
one), by which I am lamed severely in my shoulder, 
and left side and hip, was near fainting, but walked 
without help to my tent, 50 yards distant. ^ ^'* My 
horse was considerably lamed in the back by the 
tree which rested across the saddle (about 30 feet 
from the stump), after gliding from my shoulder." 
This injury caused much suffering for several weeks, 
and from its effects he never entirely recovered. He 
was able to ride on horseback, and to travel by any 

* Note 51. t Note 52. + Note 53. 



means of conveyance, whatever might be the distance 
or length of time, without more than the usual fa- 
tigue, but to stand or to walk generally wearied him, 
and there w^as often lameness or numbness in the left 
side, arm and leg.* 

On the iSth of April, 1837, at Tampa Bay, he 
wrote in the journal: ''Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. East- 
man (wives of two captains of brigs engaged to trans- 
port the Seminoles) and their husbands, came ashore 
to-day, and I accompanied them to the Creek Indian 
Camp, they in a wagon, I on horseback. Returned 
at one o'clock to my tent, where they (declining to 
dine with me) opened the baskets which they had 
brouofht well filled with cakes and dotts^hnuts of their 
own make on shipboard, and I filled my flexible bas- 
ket * * * with a hearty good appetite. The ladies 
(all the way from " down east "), quite accomplished, 
had the kindness and consideration to offer in the 
most modest and friendly manner, to repair my col- 
lars, meaning, of course, my shirts and other small 
articles, which, from the long time I have been from 
home, they conclude are out of fix. Besides thank- 
ing for myself, I thanked them for my dear L. Her 
GOOD STITCHES REMAIN FIRM, and the wearing out of 
my clothes has not been so rapid as to leave va^ shift- 
less. I have never felt more gratitude, however, for 
proffered assistance." 

At Tampa Bay, on the night of the ist of June, 
1837, while he was loading his pistols in order to be 
prepared for any emergency,t one of the pistols went 
off, and the nail and end of the thumb of the right 
hand were carried away, and the forefinger was lacer- 

* Note 54. t Note 55. 



> 



38 

ated. He thought that it was a wonderful escape, 
considering that the charge, ramrod and screw-driver 
passed, of necessity, between his thumb and fingers. 
He wrote in his journal : " And though I am in a 
camp of supposed wickedness, without having seen a 
p7'eacJLcr for months, I am deeply thankful to God 
for the continuance of life, such as it is, for health 
and numerous blessings ! ! and my happiness is that I 
feel this gratitude ! ! !" 

June 24th, 1837, Major Churchill was ordered to 
Fort Mitchell to muster and discharge Alabama and 
Georgia volunteers. On the 4th of July, at St. 
Mark's, he was invited by Judge Crane, the U. S. 
Collector, to stay at his house,* and wrote in his jour- 
nal: "At tea I came and sat down at a lady's table, 
the first time since I left home, now 13 months since, 
and my thoughts, my deep love, are carried in haste 
to my dear w^ife and children, back, time past, forward, 
I trust, to time soon to come." He was engaged in 
mustering into service and discharging volunteers /in 
Georgia,t Alabama, J and Florida,§ and then in Geor- 
gia again, till the latter part of May, 1838, when, 
being in the northern part of Georgia, General Scott, 
who had arrived in that part of the country, and was 
in command of the troops, regulars and militia, who 
had been assembled on account of anticipated trouble 
WMth the Cherokees, gave him orders to go to Wash- 
ington on the completion of the duties in which he 
was then engaged, and report to the Adjutant Gen- 
eral for light duty. It should be stated, here, that 
Major Churchill had suffered much for some months, 

* Note 56. t Note 57. % Note 5S. 5 Note 59. 



39 

and at times severely, from fever and ague contracted 
in Florida, and that a change of climate was impor- 
tant for him. At Washington he received orders for 
duty on the Vermont frontier, where, as well as on 
other parts of the frontier, troops were assembled 
during the first " Canadian Rebellion," in order to 
preserve the neutrality of the United States. On his 
way further north he remained 24 hours at West 
Point, "with [as he wrote] my dear son William, who 
has become a Cadet, and passed two years of his time 
at the Military Academy since I parted with him at 
Eastport in 1836. Is well and doing well." On the 
r4th of June he joined the rest of his family at W^ood- 
stock, Vermont, after an absence of two years and 
eleven days. He wrote: "Has a person, qv^x^ feel- 
ings which he cannot describe .'^ Then here and at 
meeting with William I must be more than dumb. 
The long separation from the best of families, the 
preservation from danger myself, the changes of my 
children by growth and appearance, the sickness of 
my dear L., our again coming together in life, serve 
to fill me with indescribable excitement, joy and 
gratitude. June 17th. In the afternoon go with my 
L. to Windsor, where we find mother Hunter in good 
health." 

Major Churchill spent the summer in the State of 
Vermont, making St. Albans his residence, and occu- 
pied much of his time in visiting the villages on the 
frontier, ascertaining the feelings and tendencies of 
the inhabitants, and endeavoring to develop among 
them a spirit of loyalty to the laws of the United 



40 

States relative to neutrality.* The only troops in 
the State were a detachment of recruits commanded 
by Lieut. Freeman,'!', stationed at Swanton, which 
afterwards became a company, or the nuclctis of one, 
in the 8th Regiment of Infantry, organized in 1838, 
whose first Colonel was William J. Worthy a brilliant 
and able officer, greatly distinguished in the war of 
'12-14, ^n<^ ^"^ the war with Mexico. This company 
was relieved by a company of the ist Artillery, the 
Head Quarters of which regiment and several of its 
companies were at Plattsburgh, New York, under 
the command of its Colonel, Bvt. Brig. Gen'l Abra- 
ham Eustis.§ 

In September, 1838, Major Churchill received 
orders to join his regiment then in the Cherokee 
country. He was detained in Washington on his 
way South, and the nature of his duties there is 
shown by the following extract from his journal : 
" Have been engaged, most of the time since the 9th 
[October], by order of the Adj't General, in examin- 
ing, with the 3d Auditor, the accounts of [name 
omitted in copying], late Quartermaster in Col. Snod- 
grass^s Regiment of Alabama Volunteers, which I 
mustered into service last October and discharged in 
April. Fraud and forgery detected therein.'' In 
November he joined his regiment at Augusta, Geor- 
gia. Eight companies were there on their way to 
Florida, one company was already in Florida, and one 
at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The Colonel, Walker K. 
Armistead,|| was not on regimental duty. The Lieut. 

* Note 60. t Note 6i. % Note 62. 

§ Note 63. II Note 64. 



41 

Colonel, William Gates,"" left on leave of absence, and, 
consequently, Major Churchill succeeded to the com- 
mand of the regiment, and proceeded with the eight 
companies to Florida. During the early part of the 
winter he was occupied, with a portion of the regi- 
ment and a company of Dragoons, in cutting roads 
and making bridges and scouring the country, in 
search for Indians north of the Ocklawaha River and 
between that river and the St. John's River. Later 
in the \vinter he went down the eastern coast as far as 
Key Biscayne, and remained until May, 1839. ^^ 
was occupied with troops under his command in 
scouring the country north and south of the Miami 
River as far as the Everglades. In order that the 
methods of the Indians may be understood, an extract 
from the Journal of April loth, 1839, is inserted: 
"At 10 A.M., received a report from Capt. Vinton f 
that a party of about 15 Indians were discovered by a 
wood party of 18 men within three- fourths of a mile 
of Fort Dallas [on the north side of the Miami 
River, at its mouth, and about four miles from the 
glades] on the morning of the first. One of the sol- 
diers happened to zoJioop like an Indian, and this 
caused the savages to rise from their ambush and ex- 
pose themselves before fhey fired, about 200 yards 
distant. The soldiers, without firing, under the com- 
mand of a sergeant, and on the advice of Ass't Sur- 
geon Baldwin,^ who w^as near, charged upon the In- 
dians and put them to flight. On the hearing of the 
yell, Lieut. Rodney § was sent from the Fort, with a 
few additional men, and, soon coming up with the 
others, pursued the Indians about eight miles, but 

* Note 65. t Note 66. \ Note 67. g Note 68. 



could not get near enough to bring them to action or 
do any execution, and lost sight of them in the glades. 
The Indians, first seen, were joined by others, and the 
whole w^ere thought to be near 40 to 60 strong, all 
w^arriors, as they were in fair view much of the eight 
miles. With horsemen they might have been over- 
taken on such ground, as they went in a N. W, 
direction." 

In May General Macomb directed Maj. Churchill 
to repair to Washington* and report to the Adju- 
tant General, from whom, on his reporting, he re- 
ceived a leave of absence for six months from the 
time he left Black Creek, at the expiration of which 
time he was to report to the Adjutant General m 
Washington. On the 17th arrived at W^est Point, 
and, as he wrote : " found my good son William in 
good health and sustaining a high standing as a 
Cadet." On the 20th rejoined his family at W^est- 
port, Essex County, New York. An incident occur- 
ring during the summer may be mentioned. As has 
been stated, Maj. Churchill, in early life, was an 
ardent Jeffersonian Democrat. Politics ran high in 
those days, and the Federalists, who considered them- 
selves " the better class," and, no doubt, were the mon- 
eyed clasS; resorted to a system of social ostracism 
in regard to their opponents, which spirit was, to 
some extent, manifested by portions of their political 
successors, the Whigs, Native Americans and Repub- 
licans,f and were particularly hostile to officers of the 
army. Of this fact Major Churchill had personal 
knowledge at Burlington in the war of 181 2-14. In 

* Note 69. t Appendix C. 



43 . 

subsequent years he ceased to take any part in politics, 
but various circumstances led him into sympathy 
with Adams, Clay and Webster, and other leaders of 
the Whig Party, He had not, however, had occa- 
sion to note, with his own eyes, the extent to which 
in most places, the Whig Party was the legitimate 
descendant of the Federal Party, and that most of the 
" Old Federalists." who were still living, were active 
Whigs. In the summer of 1839, Henry Clay, himself 
a Democrat in former years, and, as such, disliked by 
the Federalists, as was Jefferson, the great leader of 
his party, visited Burlington at a time when Major 
Churchill was in the same place, and, of course, was 
received with marked attention. Naturally, those, 
who took charge of the affair, belonged to the W' hig 
Party. Most of those who were on the shady side of 
50 to 55 years of age, were old residents of Burling- 
ton, had been Federalists in early life, and had been 
personally known as such by Major Churchill. It is 
well remembered by the writer that, on the occasion 
of a reception held in honor of Mr. Clay, Major 
Churchill called him aside and said: "Frank, it galls 
me to see that those who surround Mr, Clay, and 
stand in most favor with him, are old Federalists." * 

On the nth of November, 1839, Major Churchill 
reported himself to the Adjutant General, and re- 
ceived orders to join the army in Florida without 
delay. Arrived at St. Augustine on the 28th of the 
same month, and soon afterwards was placed in com- 
mand of the sub-district composed of St. Augustine 
and the posts in its vicinity. On the nth of January, 

* Note 70, and Appendix D. 



44 

1840, he received an order from " Head Quarters, 
Army of the South " (General Taylor), directing him 
to " inspect, from time to time, the iriilitia in the 
service of the United States, east of the Suwanee 
River, and to muster militia into and out of service, 
when necessary.'' He entered upon this duty at once. 
In his journal is found: "Feb. 14th [1840]. Again 
to Picolati (30 miles), and to St. A. 18, making since 
Jan. 16, 575 miles on horseback and 90 miles in pub- 
lic steamboat;" and, also, "Feb. 15th. Today, two 
mail carriers, each driving a two-horse stage, were 
killed by Indians north of St. Augustine, one going 
on the Jacksonville road seven miles out, the other 
coming on the Pablo road, ten miles out, and the 
horses taken from both stages. The men w^ere not 
scalped or mutilated. * * ■^^ The trail was fol- 
lowed on the i7lh down to Tomoka, where it turned 
to the S. W. in the direction of Lake Monroe, and 
the pursuit by Capt. Wicker, Flor. Vols., was discon- 
tinued T Major Churchill continued in the discharge 
of duties of this nature until near the end of April, 

1 84 1, travelling extensively on horseback in the 
northern part of Florida. In order to give another il- 
lustration of the methods of the Indians in their warfare, 
the following extract from his journal is made: "May 
23d [1840]. At sunrise, with an escort of four men, 
to Fort Baker, six-mile post, and then with three men 
to Fort Searle, where Lieut. Ord* joined me in the 
further ride to Picolati, where we arrived at 10 o'clock. 
Met Paymaster Van Ness,f about midway, going to 
St. A., himself, clerk, and two armed men on horse- 
back, his baggage wagon with two armed men in it, 

* Note 71. t Note 72. 



45 

and a carry-all with two citizens in it; those person- 
ages and teams as close together as they could travel. 
I and my party (my invariable custom when my es- 
cort is small) were riding singly at intervals of loo 
yards, two men in my front and one in my rear. I 
halted and transacted business with Major Van Ness 
for about ten minutes, and then both parties proceed- 
ed on their way. Within three hours after my arrival 
at P. an express came from Fort Searle (7 miles), with 
a report that two wagons with unarmed citizens, theat- 
rical performers, going to St. A., whom I met three 
miles out from P., had been attacked by a party of 
15 Indians, between the 8 and 9 mile posts, and two 
of the men killed. The spot was within half a mile 
of where I met Major Van Ness, who was, no doubt, 
permitted to pass unmolested in consequence of my- 
self and party being so near. My safety was in the 
distance occupied on the road. Major Van Ness was 
not in sight when I passed the place where the In- 
dians were in ambush; he emerged from a strip of 
thick trees or swamp when I met him. These suppo- 
sitions were confirmed by the Indians themselves in 
the following autumn, when they surrounded, for a 
night, the house of Capt. Schenck on North River, 
25 miles from St. A. Coachoochee (Wild Cat) then 
and there said to Capt. Schenck's negroes that he 
made the attack on the theatrical party with " many 
Indian," and in 1844 Coachoochee confirmed this to 
me personally in Washington. [Last clause interlined 
by S. C. in journal.] Lieut. Ord, being still here, set 
off, with four mounted men, to examine the place. 
In the evening I heard, by the Quartermaster's clerk, 
who came from St. A. (he went with Major Van 



46 

Ness in the morning), that a wagon containing citi- 
zens, unarmed, coming from St. A., had been attacked 
between ii and 12, about half a mile from the first 
attack, and within a mile this side, west, of Fort 
Baker, by almost the same number of Indians, and 
two men killed. At Fort Baker there were about a 
dozen men of the Third Artillery, under a sergeant, 
who, hearing the firing, and being in sight, went with 
nearly all his men to the rescue, and saved the remain- 
ing persons. A negro, the driver, escaped, wounded, 
to St. A., and gave the alarm, and nearly 100 men 
took horse and came out to the spot by two o'clock. 
Expresses were sent off, also, to the posts south and 
southwest, and as the ground is soft from recent rains 
(the last on the 20th) it is hoped that the Indians may 
be pursued by their trail and intercepted. I have 
been informed to-day, likewise, that Lieut. Martin,* 
7th Infantry, was going from Micanopy to Wacca- 
hoota, on the 19th, with an escort of three men, was 
fired upon by a large party of Indians, the Lieutenant 
and one man wounded, and, returning to Micanopy, 
gave the alarm, upon which Lieut. Sanderson, f 7th 
Infantry, with 13 men, went in pursuit, fell in with 60 
or more Indians, who, firing, killed the Lieutenant 
and five men, and that the others escaped to Mican- 
opy." 

During the summer of 1840 Major Churchill had 
an attack of bilious fever, and suffered also from fever 
and ague until December. During all this tmie, how- 
ever, with but few intervals, he continued in the per- 
formance of his duties in mustering and discharging 
militia, and, for this purpose, in travelling, mainly 

* Note 73. + Note 74. 



47 

on horseback, between St. Augustine and Tallahassee, 
and in both directions. 

Entered in his journal is the following: "On the 
1 6th [December, '40] 1 was joined at Picolati by my 
son, Lieut. William H. C, who graduated at the Mil. 
Academy in June last, had been detailed as my assist- 
ant in mustering militia, and just arrived in Florida." 
Lieut. C. was with Major C. for a few days only, but 
joined him again on the 24th of March, 1841, and re- 
mained with him till April 28th. On their parting 
Major Churchill entered in his journal: "In this 
short term of duty with me [he has] given me the 
highest degree of satisfaction and pleasure as a son 
and an officer." * 

On the 26th of April, 1841, Major Churchill, hav- 
ing completed the discharge of the Florida militia,f 
reported, as a member thereof, to a Board for exam- 
ining claims in connection with the militia service, 
then in session in Tallahassee. The following is a 
copy of an entry in the journal: "Monday, June 14. 
The Board, having resolved some weeks since to pro- 
ceed to St. Augustine, holding sessions on its way at 
several places, left Tallahassee this moruing, the party 
consisting of myself (Prest.), Major MapesJ and 
Capt. Heintzelman § (members), and Mr. Towle, re- 
corder, with Kemp,! ^Y orderly, Charles (negro), 
messenger to the Board, a two-horse wagon, in which 
two persons ride, a five-mule wagon for baggage^ to 
be met ten miles from town by an escort of seven 
mounted infantry, Mr. T., myself, and orderly being 
armed with double-barreled guns, I and the other 

* Note 75. t Note 76. | Note 77. 

§ Note 78. I Note 79. 



48 

gentlemen with pistols, also; Capt. H. and 1 a?".d or- 
derlies on horseback." The Board held sessions at 
various places until August 25th, when, being at St. 
Augustine, it received an order from the Adjutant 
General's office, Issued on its suggestion, to adjourn 
to Washington and there resume its duties. Major 
Churchill arrived at Washington on the afternoon of 
September 6th, 1S41. 

Appointed Inspector General. 

Extract from journal : " The next day I was in- 
formed by General Jesup, Quartermaster General, 
that he had sent my name to the President on the 
first for the appointment of Inspector General of the 
Army, in the place of Bvt. Brig. Gen. W^ool,"" ap- 
pointed Brigadier General, vice Scott promoted to 
Major General to fill the vacancy occasioned by the 
death of Maj. Genl. Macomb on the 25th of June 
last. Paymaster General Towsonf was consulted the 
da}^ after by the President (Gen. Scott and the Adjt. 
Genl. Jones;^ not being in Washington), and so favor- 
able were the recommendations, principally on ac- 
count of my having been employed on similar duty 
in Florida for much of the last five years, that the 
President nominated me to the Senate for the office 
on the loth, the nomination was confirmed on the 
13th, and on the 15th the order of the appointment 
was issued ; and thus, without any application by me, 
two grades of rank are conferred upon me, and I have 
assurances from all the officers I meet of the unani- 
mous satisfaction the appointment gives. 15th. Re- 
lieved from duty on the Board, and ordered to relieve 

* Note 80. t Note 8i. % Note 82. 



49 

Gen. Wool in Troy as Inspector Genl., and left Wash- 
ington accordingly same day." ^ 

With this appointment came more important du- 
ties, greater responsibilities, and much more extensive 
travel. Though there were two Inspectors General, 
the duties of the position were discharged almost ex- 
clusively by Colonel Churchill. He traveled in every 
part of the country, inspecting troops and posts, ar- 
senals, depots, and hospitals (West Point, and unfin- 
ished works still in the hands of officers of the Corps 
of Engineers, alone excepted), and ascertaining by 
personal observation and inquiry, the manner in which 
the duties of every branch of the service were dis- 
charged. Much of his time was occupied, also, in 
the examination of the claims of volunteers and mili- 
tia who had been in the service of the United States. 
His reports to the Adjutant General w^ere frequent 
and in detail, and upon them the action of the Head 
Quarters of the Army was often based.f By way of 
illustration of the extent of Colonel Churchill's trav- 
els, it is sufficient to state that the memoranda kept 
by him show that from September 15th, 184I; till 
June 15th, 1843, his journeyings amounted to 19,363 
miles. The distance would not be considered great 
at the present day when people make a pleasure trip 
in a parlor car to Mexico, Utah, California, etc, ; but 
it should be remembered that the time mentioned was 
45 years ago. 

Services during the war with Mexico. 

In January, 1846, Colonel Churchill, being, at the 
time, in the City of Washington, received an order to 

* Note 83, and Appendix E. t Note 84. 



50 

inspect the troops in Texas, and, returning, by way of 
Florida, to inspect the posts and troops in the Gulf 
and southern Atlantic States. On or about the 2 2d 
February, 1845, he inspected "The Army of Occupa- 
tion," commanded by General Taylor, and encamped 
at Corpus Christi, Texas. With the exception, pos- 
sibly, of a few Texan mounted troops, it was com- 
posed of regulars. After this he proceeded 220 miles 
on horseback, by way of San Antonio to Austin, and 
then 1 72 miles by wagon to Houston. His return was 
by way of Galveston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, &c., 
&c. His journal reads : " Washington, Sunday, May 
1 7th. I arrived at 4 p. m. direct from St. Augustine, 
Florida, where, on the night of the nth, I heard of 
the capture of Capt. Hardee'^ and others, 2d Dra- 
goons, on the Rio Grande, above Matamoros, and with- 
out making further inspection under the instructions of 
2 2d January, I hurried direct to Washington. I could 
not have inspected the troops on the way, for I found 
that the garrisons at Savannah, Augusta, Charleston 
and Fort Monroe had been ordered to embark for 
Texas, or hold themselves in readiness to do so. 
General Scott, to whom I reported in his office, at 6 
o'clock the evening of my arrival in Washington, ap- 
proved my return, and directed me to employ my 
time, for a few days, in preparing instructions for offi- 
cers in mustering volunteers into service, and I ac- 
cordingly devoted my attention to that duty and pre- 
paring forms of muster rolls for volunteers and mili- 
tia." On the 2 2d of May he received an order assign- 
ing him to the special duty of mustering into service 
the volunteers to be raised in Indiana, Tennessee, and 

=^ Note 85. 



51 

Mississippi, and directing him to "repair to those 
States without delay, see or correspond with the Gov- 
ernors, and take such prompt measures as may be 
necessary for the execution of the duty assigned." 
Soon afterwards the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and 
Missouri were added. But the duty was not en- 
trusted to Colonel Churchill alone. Colonel Cro- 
ghan,* the other, and the Senior, Inspector General, 
was also assigned to it, and the whole matter was 
to be under the superintendence of General Wool. 
Finally, the duties in Indiana and Illinois were spe- 
cially assigned to Colonel Churchill. He received 
the final order at Carlisle on the 30th of May at 12 
M., and started for Indiana at i p. m, on the same day. 
Within a fortnight previous to this date news of the 
battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and of 
the bombardment of Fort Brown,f opposite Matamo- 
ros, had been received, and the survivors of those, who 
were living at that time, well remember the intense 
excitement which ensued. Col. Churchill mustered 
into service three regiments of Indiana Volunteers, 
Colonels James P. Drake, Joseph Lane, appointed 
Brig. Genl U. S. Vols., July ist, 1846, and succeeded 
as Colonel by William A. Bowles, and James H. 
Lane, and four of Illinois Volunteers, Colonels John 
J. Hardin, William H. Bissell, Ferris Forman, and 
Edward D. Baker. Colonel Baker, who was born in 
London, England, was a member of the U. S. House 
of Representatives at the commencement of the war 
with Mexico, but resigned his seat and raised the 
fourth regiment. He commanded a Brigade, after 
General James Shields was dangerously wounded in 

* Note 86. t Note 87. 



52 

the battle of Cerro Gordo, and was distinguished in that 
battle. He subsequently removed to California, and 
then to Oregon, and was elected U. S. Senator from the 
latter State in i860, but went into the Union Army 
and was killed at the battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia. 
Colonel Churchill was brought into close relations with 
the ist and 2d Illinois V^olunteers, which subsequently 
formed a part of General Wool's command. Colonel 
Hardin was killed in the battle of Buena Vista. 
His widow became the wife of Ex-Chancellor Reu- 
ben H. Walworth, of New York, and a lasting friend- 
ship was maintained between her and Col. Churchill. 
Colonel Bissell was greatly distinguished in the bat- 
tle of Buena Vista, and, with his regiment, aided in 
holding an important position, and in checking the 
progress of the Mexican troops after a portion of the 
American troops had given way. It was in this bat- 
tle that General Taylor is said to have used the ex- 
pression, in the form of a command : " Give them a 
little more grape, Captain Bragg."* The story, 
though not true, well illustrates the cool, sturdy and 
unflinching character of General Taylor. There were 
other stories told of " Old Zach," or, according to the 
nickname given him by the soldiers, " Old Rough and 
Ready," also often untrue, but, still, perfectly applica- 
ble, and, in their essence, complimentary to him. 
Colonel Bissell was subsequently a member of the 
U. S. House of Representatives for several years. 
He was elected as a Democrat, and acted with his par- 
ty, except that he opposed the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise. In 1856 he was elected Governor of 
the State of Illinois by the Republican party, and 

* Note 88. 



died during his term of office. While he was in the 
House of Representatives another member made 
some comments upon the floor concerning the com- 
parative courage of the Northern and Southern 
troops in the battle of Buena Vista, and spoke dis- 
paragingly of the former. Colonel Bissell promptly 
contradicted the statement. The other member sent 
him a challenge which was accepted, and muskets 
were named by him as the weapon. The question 
was one of fact, and, fortunately, was one of easy 
solution. Colonel Bissell was so clearly in the right 
that it can be said that there was but one side to the 
question. The friends of the parties intervened, and 
obtained statements from those who were familiar 
with the facts. The writer remembers that Colonel 
(then Bvt. Brig. General) Churchill made a statement 
in writing, and he thinks that General Taylor, father- 
in-law of Jefferson Davis, who had been elected Pres- 
ident of the United States, was still living, and also 
made a statement. The challenger saw that his posi- 
tion was untenable, and, after the negotiations con- 
ducted through friends which are usual in such cases, 
the matter was compromised and the challenge was 
withdrawn. The writer visited Colonel Bissell at his 
residence in Belleville, Illinois, in the winter of 1847-8, 
and saw him afterwards in New York. He well re- 
members him as a gentleman of delicate appearance, 
quiet and unassuming, and, showing, at the same 
time, the characteristics of coolness, self-possession, 
and self-assertion. Such men are not to be intimi- 
dated. Colonel Bissell was not a person who would 
seek, or desire to raise, a sectional issue, or would 
grade the value of any man by reference to the part of 



54 

the country in which he resided. In the war with 
Mexico, the behavior of a regiment in battle depend- 
ed largely upon what was its behavior on the march 
and in the daily routine of duty in the camp, and the 
standard of its behavior in the latter respects was es- 
tablished by the measure of its discipline as imparted 
to it by its officers. 

On the 29th of August, 1846, Colonel Churchill 
joined General Wool at San Antonio, Texas. From 
that time till Sept. 28 (as he wrote in his journal) "I 
was most busily employed in camp and at Hd. Qrs. 
inspecting men and horses for discharge, getting the 
muster rolls in and examining them, regulating camp 
duties and many important matters confided to me by 
Gen'l Wool." On the 14th of October he left that 
place in command of the rear column, crossed the Rio 
Grande on the 25th and 26th, and arrived at Head 
Quarters at Monclova on the 6th of November. The 
Division, under the command of General Wool, arrived 
at Parras on the 5th of December. On the 1 7th of 
that month, at one o'clock r. m., a communication 
dated on the i6th at Saltillo, was received from Gen'l 
Worth, containing the information that the enemy 
was reported to be moving in large force on that 
place from San Luis Potosi, whereupon Gen'l Wool 
moved at 4 p. m. on the same day with all his force 
(and having nearly 300 wagons), except two compan- 
ies left temporarily, and arrived at Agua Nueva, op- 
posite a pass in the mountains 20 miles from Saltillo, 
at I p. M. on the 21st, a distance of 115 or more miles, 
about 29 miles per day. During a part of this march 
the Division moved in two columns, and Col. Church- 



55 

ill was placed in command of the rear column, con- 
sisting of all the foot troops with about 225 wagons. 
On the 20th it moved at 2 o'clock a. m., and reached 
Gen'l Wool's camp at daylight. On the 21st it moved 
at 4 A. M., and reached his camp again at daylight ; 
and then the entire force moved in one body 18 miles 
to Agfua Nueva. From this time until the battle of 
Buena Vista was fought there were constant reports, 
more or less authentic, of the advance of the enemy. 
The army was on the alert at all times,* and the 
scouts confirmed the later reports. On the 28th of 
December Colonel Churchill received an order detach- 
ing him from Gen'l Wool's Division, and directing 
him, after making the muster of that command on the 
31st of the month, to join Maj. Gen'l Butler,f and, 
accordingly, on the 4th of January, 1847, he reported 
to that officer in Saltillo.J On the 8th of January 
orders were received from Gen'l Scott, dated at Co- 
margo, on the 3d, calling for a large part of the force, 
including all of Gen'l Worth's Brigade, to report to 
him on the Rio Grande. On the 20th and 21st of 
February, 1847, such of the troops as were at Agua 
Nueva fell back, and by reveille of the 2 2d were in 
position at Buena Vista ranch a}4, miles from Saltillo, 
and at and near a narrow pass a mile and a half fur- 
ther south. On the 2 2d and 23d of February, took 
place the battle of Buena Vista, the Mexicans being 
commanded by Gen. Santa Anna, and the Americans 
by Gen. Wool at the outset, and subsequently by Gen. 
Taylor.§ Colonel Churchill, whose horse was wound- 
ed four or five times by musket balls, received the 
brevet rank of Brigadier General for gallant and 

* Note 89. t Note 90. X Note 91. § Note 92. 



56 

meritorious conduct in the battle. It was conferred 
in May, 1848. 

In May, 1847. Colonel Churchill was ordered to 
New Orleans to muster for discharge the twelve 
months' volunteers. Accordingly, in June, in that 
city, he mustered and discharged, signing a discharge 
for each officer and man, ten regiments, one battalion, 
and one detachment, from Mississippi, Kentucky, 
Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.* In the fall of 1847 
he received orders to muster into the service of the 
United States, to serve during the war with Mex- 
ico, live regiments of volunteers from Indiana, Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. He had discharged that duty 
but in part when he received an order detailing him 
as a member of a Court Martial to assemble at Fort 
Monroe, but which finally assembled in Washing- 
ton, and held its sessions in that city till the latter 
part of the winter of 1847 and 1848. The next duty 
of importance was the supervision of the muster for 
discharge of the troops who had volunteered for the 
war with Mexico, and he was personally occupied in 
the performance of this duty in New Orleans from 
June 27th till August 2d, 1848, and, in addition to 
this, had general supervision of the discharges made 
at Mobile, East Pascagoula, Vicksburg, Memphis, 
Alton, and elsewhere. 

Gen'l Churchill then resumed the discharge of the 
duties appertaining, in time of peace, to his position 
and rank in the army. They consisted in the inspec- 
tions already mentioned and of vessels engaged as 

* Note 93. 



57 

transports, in investigations of Indian affairs, and oc- 
casional attendance, as a member, on Courts of In- 
quiry, Courts Martial, and Boards of Inspection."^ 
Details are not necessary. The statements already 
made will give an idea of the nature of his duties and 
the extent of his travels. The last inspection noted 
in his journal was that of Fort Sullivan, Eastport, 
Maine, July 4th, 1859. It was from this point, as has 
been stated, that he started for the Creek Nation 
twenty-three years before. The following entry in 
his journal, made July 28th, i860, on the occasion of 
a visit to Vermont, is significant: "Went up to 
Mount Mansfield, 8 miles and returned. i}4. miles 
very steep, on horseback, near the summit. Dined at 
the tip-top house. Horse fell in coming down, but I 
was not hurt. L. [Mrs. Churchill] rode up and down 
without accident, though she had not been on horse- 
back since 1844." Then follows a full account of the 
hotel, the method of supplying it, and the sources of 
its supplies, and the details of the dinner ; all charac- 
teristic of his habit of close and accurate observation. 
At this time Gen'l Churchill was nearly 'j'j years old. 
The previous riding on horseback by Mrs. Churchill, 
which is mentioned, was in Georgia and Alabama, as 
already stated. The last official paper, of a personal 
nature, addressed to Genl. Churchill, and found among 
his files, except the order for his retirement from the 
active list, which took place on the 27th of Septem- 
ber, 1861, was as follows: "The Adjutant General 

* Note 94. 



58 

desires to see General Churchill at his office as early 
this morning as he can call. Very respectfully, 

A. G. O., James B. Fry* 

Monday, April 15, 1861. A. A. G." 

At Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the following entry was 
made in his journal: " 1861, April 20. — Myself, wife, 
Lucy [their grand-daughter], with David [a colored 
man servant], left Washington at 3 p. m., via Relay 
House, to Frederick. Next day in carriage to Ha- 
gerstown. 24th, p. m. By rail to Chambersburgh, and 
morning of 25th to Carlisle. I, being too lame and 
infirm, I am unfit for any active service, and being di- 
rected by Gen'l Scott to take care of myself, as he had 
repeatedly said in the last three years. The train we 
came in was the last unbroken one from VV." The 
party left Washington at the urgent solicitation of 
Prof Baird, who, having ascertained on that day that 
the last train was to leave, returned to his residence 
in order to make the fact known, and to cause the 
party to start. It may well be understood that Gen- 
eral Churchill left with reluctance. He was fully aware 
of his infirmities, but it galled him to be obliged to 
recognize himself as a non-combatant, and to retire 
from the post of danger. He carried his sword in the 
car between his knees, and it was observed that he and it 
were the subjects of scrutiny by some of the passengers. 
General Churchill omits to mention that one of the 
party was a Mr. Clark, who had been for some time a 
member of Prof Baird's household, and who, for the 
reason that he was a native of that part of the coun- 

* Note 95. 



59 

try, and had acquaintances, went with the party, in 
order, if necessary, to obtain conveyances and render 
assistance. He went as far as Frederick. His return 
and his announcement that the party was safely on its 
way gave great satisfaction to those who had remained 
in Washington. The last entry of any military serv- 
ice in the journal bears date on the 27th of April, 
1861 : "Went to Harrisburgh to see Adj. Gen'l Bid- 
die." [He was the Adj. Gen'l of the State of Penn- 
sylvania, and an uncle of Prof. Baird.] 

General Churchill, after his retirement, resided in 
Washington, but passed a part of the time at Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania, and Bellows Falls, Vermont. The last 
entry in his journal is dated Oct. nth, 1862, and con- 
sists merely of a memorandum of payments made. 



GO 



At Windsor, Vermont, on the 30th day of August, 

181 2, Sylvester Churchill was married to Lucy 
Hunter,^ daughter of William Hunter and Mary 
(Newell) Hunter. She was born at Windsor, July 
I /th, 1 786, and died at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 6th, 1862. She was the oldest of five children 
of their parents who reached maturity, five others 
having died in infancy or childhood. The former 
were : Lucy, Mary, Franklin, Sarah, and William 
Guy. William Hunter was born at Sharon, Connec- 
ticut, January 3d, 1 754, and died at Windsor, Ver- 
mont, November 30th, 1827. At Windsor, January 
30th, 1777, he married Mary Newell, above men- 
tioned, who was born at Farmington, Connecticut, 
November 5th, 1757, and died at Westport, Essex 
County, New York, April 26th, 1844. William 
Hunter's parents were David Hunter and Rebeckah 
(Marvin) Hunter, the latter born at Norwalk, Con- 
necticut, who were married June 26th, 1750. David's 
parents were Jonathan Hunter and Hopestill (Ham- 
blin) Hunter, who were married at Rochester, Massa- 
chusetts, November 27th, 1729. Mary Newell was a 
daughter of Elihu Newell and Esther (Langdon) 
Newell, who were married at Farmington, Connecti- 
cut, in 1754. Elihu, who was born July 14th, 1730, 
at Farmington, and died at Windsor, Vermont, in 

1 81 3, was a son of Thomas Newell and Mary (Lee) 
Newell, born March i8th, 1690, who were married at 
Farmington, July 9th, 1713. Thomas, who was born 
March ist, 1690, probably at Farmington, was a son 
of Samuel Newell and Mary (Hart) Newell, who 
were married at Farmington, December 20th, 1683. 

* Note 96. 



6i 



Samuel, who was born December 5th, 1660, probably 
at Farmington, and died February 15th, 1753, was a 
son of Thomas Newell and Rebecca (Olmstead) 
Newell. Thomas came from Hertfordshire, England, 
settled at Farmington about 1640, and died there 
February 25th, 1698. 

The life of Mrs. Churchill is narrated, in substance, 
in the sketch of the life of her husband. From the 
time that he left Eastport, Maine, in 1836, till their 
children were all established in life, she was virtually 
the household head of the family, and had charge of 
most of the details of its daily affairs. So long as she 
lived, the place where she was, even temporarily, was 
home to them. From the time of the appointment of 
her husband as Inspector General, in 1841, for over 
fifteen years she accompanied him in the greater part 
of his travels in the United States, shared the fatigues 
and exposures as well as the pleasures and novelties 
of the journeyings, saw every part of the country, and 
became acquainted with large numbers of persons of 
every grade and condition in life. Her social quali- 
ties, her conversational powers, and her capacity to 
adapt herself to all positions, and make warm friends 
of all whom she met, her sympathetic and kindly dis- 
position, her quick apprehension and keen sense of 
humor, were remarkable. She and General Churchill 
differed much in temperament and tastes, but their 
differing qualities merely served to supplement those 
of each other, and to develop them to the best advan- 
tage. Perfect harmony was the result. 

It was a consequence of their natural characteris- 
tics and of their mode of life that they were entirely 
independent in the management of their affairs, and 



62 



in forming and maintaining personal relations with 
others according to their merits and character. They 
had due regard to the conventional requirements of 
society, but recognized the fact that such require- 
ments are carried, at times, by sticklers, ]3eyond the 
limits of reason and charity. With them the opinion 
of any local Mrs. Grundy went, merely, for what it 
was worth. 

For many summers they visited, whenever able to 
do so, two small villages on the w^est side of Lake 
Champlain, one on the Lake and the other a few 
miles distant from it, and in and near which relatives 
of each resided.* Their last visit was made in July 
and August, 1861. The writer well remembers that, 
on the 2d day of August of that year. General 
Churchill's birthday, he heard him say, while reclining 
in a capacious arm-chair (fond of work and with much 
capacity for v/ork he did not fail to take his ease when 
the opportunity permitted) : *' I am seventy-eight 
years old to-day, and as happy as happy can be," He 
might well speak thus. He had the consciousness of 
a life well spent, he had had unusual health and 
strength, had, by his merits, gained position and rep- 
utation, was happy in his domestic relations, and had 
means amply sufficient for every want. There were 
assembled, on one occasion during this visit, in the 
parlor of the country inn. General and Mrs. Churchill, 
her sister, Mrs. Sarah Aikens, and her husband, her 
brother, William Guy Hunter, and his wife. It was 
the last time they met. General and Mrs. Churchill 
died in 1862. One of the six, Mrs. Hunter, still re- 
mains among the living. The writer thinks that his 
sister and he were the only other persons present. 

* Note 97. 



63 

The oldest child of Sylvester and Lucy died in 
infancy. The others resided with their parents at 
the various posts where their father was stationed till 
1836, when he went to the Creek Nation as already 
stated, and the oldest son went to West Point. After 
that time, and during the lives of their parents, the 
family residence, so far as there was one, was at vari- 
ous places in Vermont, in New York and Pennsyl- 
vania, and in the City of Washington. Those fre- 
quent changes of residence did not fail to make a 
permanent impression upon the minds of the four 
children, and, to a corresponding extent, to form 
their character. From early life they never consid- 
ered themselves permanent residents of any place. 
They were aware that their father was liable to be or- 
dered elsewhere, and, as they advanced in years, each 
remembered a former residence equally uncertain. 
They never attached the idea or sentiment of home to 
any spot or place. As has been stated, home was 
wherever their mother was, and this was irrespective 
of the length of her sojourning or of the roof which 
covered her head. If there was diuy place with which 
the associations of home were connected, it was 
Smith ville, in North Carolina. There they passed 
seven years of their childhood^ a time of life when 
impressions are most readily received. Such impres- 
sions are, also, the most lasting. Smithville was, as 
it is still, an insignificant place in itself, and in its 
surroundings and its relations to other parts of the 
country. It merely had the merit of being a seaport, 
situated on a broad river, but two miles from the 
ocean, and of being a harbor for sailing vessels and 
steamers engaged in domestic and foreign commerce. 



64 

But, here, friendships were formed which continued 
through life, and the survivors of the family often 
speak of that sandy and uninteresting place and its 
former inhabitants with warm affection. The writer 
has seen the place but once, and then merely from the 
deck of a steamer in passing in front of it, on his way 
from Charleston to Wilmington, in the spring of 
1853. Every other member of the family actually 
visited Smithville, and two of them frequently.* 
Next in importance, in the minds of those four chil- 
dren, was Windsor, Vermont; but, though three of 
them resided there for a year, their interest in the 
place was not so much on account of any actual 
knowledge and experience as because it was the 
birthplace of their mother and a frequent subject of 
narratives by her during their childhood when they 
were in what was then a distant part of the countrv. 
They learned the names and characteristics of persons 
whom they never saw, became familiar with the facts 
of her own early life, and of her home with her par- 
ents; and the sayings and acts of the worthies, and, 
even, the unworthies, of Windsor, became, for them, 
proverbs and examples to be followed or shunned. 
It is worthy of remark that their father's birthplace had 
no such importance in their minds, though, in their 
esteem, their father's relatives stood quite as high as 
did those of their mother. This circumstance was not 
an exception. The WTiter has often noticed that the 
younger members of a family generally know more of 
their mother's relatives than they do of those of their 
father. This seems to be but a fulfilment of the words 

* Appendix F. 



65 

of Scripture : " Wherefore a man shall leave father 
and mother, and shall cleave to his wife." 

Another circumstance should be mentioned. At 
each military post were officers of the army, natives 
of various parts of the country, associating among 
themselves, and among each other's families, with 
much intimacy, and, generally, having acquired a 
knowledge of the world by travel and social experi- 
ence which was possessed by but few of the citizens 
among whom they were stationed. 

It naturally followed that the children of General 
and Mrs. Churchill were exceptionally free from sec- 
tional feeling, and were better able than most persons 
to judge of sectional differences with impartiality and 
upon their merits. Devotion to the Union was the re- 
sult of their training as well as a matter of sentiment, 
though they did not deem it incumbent upon them- 
selves, when the Civil War came, to make blatant proc- 
lamations of their loyalty. They had no sympathy 
with the extremists of either North or South, and they 
knew that the citizens of no part of the country had 
a monopoly of virtue, morality, intelligence, sincerity, 
or patriotism, or more than their natural share of 
those qualities. They had charity for the honest 
opinions of others even on such vital questions as the 
constitutional right of secession, and even though 
their own opinions were different. In the admirable 
language of President Cleveland, they could exercise 
"toleration when approval of * * opinions is with- 
held." When opinions led to acts there was no room 
for toleration for those acts. When acts ceased, as a 
finality, either by compulsion or willingly, there was 
again, in their opinion, room for toleration. There 
5 



66 



was always room for charity. It happened to them 
to know that some of their northern acquaintances 
looked upon them with suspicion. So, they knew 
that some of their old southern acquaintances won- 
dered why those who had resided so much at the 
South, and had so many southern friendships, should 
oppose the South. This would have been amusing to 
them had not the state of affairs made them sad. 



67 

William Hunter Churchill entered the Mili- 
tary Academy, as a Cadet, September ist, 1836. In 
iiis first year he stood the fourth in a class numbering 
76 at the end of the year; in his second the tenth in 
a class of 58, and was a corporal ; in his third the 
ninth in a class of 46, and was the Sergeant Major, 
and in his fourth, or as a First Classman, was the 
eighth in a class of 42, and was the Adjutant of the 
Corps. There were 42 graduates, 28 of whom were 
born in the Free States, so called, and 14 in the Slave 
States, including the District of Columbia. The pro- 
portion of those born in the Free States was much 
above the average. One, Charles P. Kingsbury, who 
was born in New York, was appointed from North 
Carolina, and one, Pinckney Lugenbeel, who was 
born in Maryland, was appointed from Ohio, Four, 
three of whom, William P. Jones* William H. 
Churchill, and Francis N. Clarke,f were certainly 
sons of officers of the army, were appointed " at large." 
The three named were born in Free States, and the 
fourth, Douglass S. Irwin, was born in the District 
of Columbia. In addition to those who were killed 
in battle, four lost their lives by casualties : William 
P. Jones (N. Y.) in 1841, at Fort McHenry, near 
Baltimore (named after James McHenry, Secretary 
of War, 1 796-1800) by being thrown from his horse ; 
Job R. H. Lancaster (Ohio) in 1841 by lightning in 
Florida, while on a scout; Thaddeus Higgins (Penn.) 
in 1845, near Corpus Christi, Texas, by the bursting 
of a steamers boiler ; and Horace B. Field (N. Y.) 
who was swept overboard, with many others, from the 

* Son of Gen. Roger Jones, Adj. Gen. 
t Son of Gen. Newman S. Clarke. 



68 



steamer San Francisco, on her voyage, as a transport, 
with troops, mainly of the 3d Artillery, from New 
York to California in 1853. Douglass S. Irwin (D. 
C.) was killed at Monterey, and John D. Bacon 
(Maine) mortally wounded at Churubusco, and seven 
others: James G. Martin (N. C); William Hays 
(Va.) ; Bryant P. Tilden (Mass.) ; Charles H. Hum- 
ber (Mass.) ; Pinckney Lugenbeel (Md.) ; Robert P. 
Maclay (Pa.) ; and Henry D. Wallen (Geo.) were 
wounded in the Mexican war. Two, George H. 
Thomas (Va.) and Douglass S. Irwin (D. C.) received 
brevets for gallant services in the Florida war, one of 
whom, Thomas, and seventeen others : Paul O. 
Hebert (La.) ; Charles P. Kingsbury (N. Y.) ; Wil- 
liam T. Sherman (Ohio) ; William H. Churchill (N. 
Y.) ; John P. McCown (Tenn.) ; Richard S. Ewell 
(D. C); James G. Martin (N. C.) ; George W. 
Getty (D. C.) ; Horace B. Field (N. Y.) ; William 
Hays (Va.); Oscar F. Winship (N. Y.) ; Charles 
H. Humber (Mass.) ; Reuben P. Campbell (N. C.) ; 
Pinckney Lugenbeel (Md.) ; William Steele (N. Y.) ; 
Oliver L. Shepherd (N. Y.) ; and William B. Johns 
(D. C), received brevets for services during the 
Mexican war. Fifteen : Charles P. Kingsbury (N. 
Y.) ; John McNutt (Ohio) ; William T. Sherman 
(Ohio) ; Stewart Van Vleit (N. Y.) ; Francis N. 
Clarke (N. Y.) ; George H. Thomas (Va.) ; George 
W. Getty (D. C.) ; Henry Whiting (N. Y.) ; William 
Hays (Va.) ; James N. Caldwell (Ohio) ; John W^ T. 
Gardiner (Maine) ; Pinckney Lugenbeel (Md.) ; 
Oliver L. Shepherd (N. Y.) ; Henry D. Wallen 
(Geo.) ; and Stephen D. Carpenter (Maine), were in 
the Federal service in the late civil war, of whom 



69 

Carpenter was killed, and nine : Paul O. Hebert 
(La.) ; John P. McCown (Tenn.) ; Richard S. Ewell 
(D. C.) ; James G. Martin (N. C.) ; Bushrod R. 
Johnson (Ohio) ; Reuben P. Campbell (N. C); 
William Steele (N. Y.) ; Robert P. Maclay (Penn.); 
and Thomas Jordan (Va.), were in the Confederate 
service, of whom Campbell was killed* Of the 
twelve, of whom no account except in reference 
to the Florida and Mexican wars is here given : 
William Gilham (Ind.) ; William H. Churchill (N. 
Y.) ; Fowler Hamilton (N. Y.) ; Bryant P. 
Tilden (Mass.) ; Oscar F. Winship (N. Y.) ; 
Charles H. Humber (Mass.) ; Henry Wardwell 
(R. I.) ; William Robertson (Tenn.) ; Joseph L. 
Folsom (N. H.) ; William G. Torrey (N. Y.) ; Daniel 
G. Rogers (Penn.), and William B. Johns (D. C), 
most of them died in the army, while others resigned 
or were out of service. The history of Torrey since 
1845, and that of Maclay since 1866, are unknown; 
Sherman, Van Yleit, Getty, Whiting, Robertson, 
Shepherd, Wallen, Johns and Jordan, were known to 
be living on the ist of September, 1886. 

William Hunter Churchill was promoted Second 
Lieutenant in the 3d Artillery, of which regiment his 
father was Major, July ist, 1840. Into the same regi- 
ment went Jones, Gilham, Sherman, Van \"leit, 
Thomas and Field. He served on Governor's Island, 
Harbor of New York, then a depot for recruits ; at 
various points on and near the east coast of Florida 
in the operations against the Seminole Indians; in 
assisting his father in mustering and discharging 

*= Note 98. 



70 

militia between the St. John's River and Tallahassee, 
to which duty he was temj3orarily detailed ; at St. 
Augustine ; at New Orleans Barracks ; at Fort Mc- 
Henry, and at Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor. 
Fort Moultrie was named after Major Gen'l Moul- 
trie, who, in June, 1776, successfully defended the 
fort, then constructed of palmetto logs and sand, 
against the attack of a British squadron under the 
command of Sir Peter Parker. On June 27th, 1843, 
he became First Lieutenant in due course of promo- 
tion. In 1845. owing to the threatening condition of 
affairs with Mexico, a portion of the army was con- 
centrated at Corpus Christi, Texas, under General 
Taylor. Lieut. Churchill was among the first who 
were ordered to that point, and he left, never to re- 
turn. Early in March, 1846, the army advanced to 
the Rio Grande, occupied the bank of the river oppo- 
site Matamoras, and constructed a fort to which the 
name of Fort Brown was subsequently given. In 
April Gen'l Taylor, with the bulk of the army, went 
to the coast, a distance of a few miles, in order to ob- 
tain supplies, leaving the 7th Infantr}^ and a small 
force of artillery as a garrison. It was determined 
that, on the return, two eighteen-pounders should be 
taken in addition to the rest of the artillery, and, in 
order that they might be used in action, in the event 
of the march of the army being contested, it was de- 
cided that there should be a proper force to work the 
pieces. Lieut. Churchill was detailed by Bvt. Lt. Col 
Childs* to the command of the force assigned to that 
duty, and was directed to report to Gen'l Taylor for 
orders. He did so, and the order was: "Well, hitch 

* Note 99. 



71 

on." The guns were drawn by oxen. The wags of 
the army cracked many jokes on the subject of the 
novel battery, and suggested that a Board of Officers 
should be appointed to prepare manoeuvres for Ox 
Artillery. The battery did excellent service in the 
battle of Palo Alto, and in August, 1846, the brevet 
rank of Captain was conferred upon Lieut. Churchill 
for his gallantry in that battle. It is understood that 
some of the oxen were converted into beef by the 
shot of the enemy during the action. Lieut. Church- 
ill was left with the battery as a part of the guard of 
the wounded and train, and, therefore, did not partici- 
pate in the battle of Resaca de la Palma, which oc- 
curred the 9th of May, 1846. In March, 1847, he 
was appointed Assistant Quartermaster with the rank 
of Captain, was stationed at Point Isabel, Texas, in a 
position involving great responsibilities, and died 
there on the 19th of October, 1847. After a tempo- 
rary interment at Point Isabel, his remains were taken 
to Savannah, Georgia, and there re-interred. 

As already stated, he married, at Savannah, Eliza- 
beth Margaret Cuyler. Her father, Richard Randolph 
Cuyler, was born October 19th, 1796, and died April 
6th, 1865, and his parents were Jeremiah Cuyler and 
Margaret (Clarendon) Cuyler. Her mother, Missis- 
sippi (Gordon) Cuyler, was born January i8th, 1800, 
and died February 15th, 1833. The children of R. 
R. C. and M. C. were George A., Elizabeth M., Rich- 
ard M., and Margaret M., afterwards Mrs. Johnson. 



72 

Franklin Hunter Churchill graduated at the 
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, in 
1843, studied law in 1843 ^"^ 1844 at Keeseville, 
Essex and Clinton Counties, New York, with Sim- 
mons & Taber, Esqrs,, was at the Law School of 
Harvard University during two terms in 1844 ^^'^^ 
1845, ^"d afterwards studied law in the city of New 
York with E. H. & R. B. Kimball, Esqrs., and Aliens 
& Hudson, Esqrs. In January, 1847, at Albany, he 
was admitted as an Attorney and Solicitor. The 
General Term of the Supreme Court, composed of 
three judges, at which he was admitted as an attorney, 
was one of the last, if not the last, held under the old 
system, pursuant to which there were but four Gener- 
al Terms during the year, and which were held in New 
York, Albany, Utica, and Rochester, one in each of 
those cities. Law students assembled for examination 
at those Terms from all parts of the State, and, for 
those who had successfully stood the test of college 
examinations and knew that they were well prepared, 
of which fact they were fully competent to judge, the 
occasion was a very pleasant one and took upon itself 
a festive form. Robert S. Hale was among those 
examined in January, 1847. The students in attend- 
ance were so numerous that they were divided into 
two sections, to one of which R. S. H. and F. H. C. 
were assigned. Two of the examiners of this section, 
and the writer is not sure that there were more than 
two, were Edward Sandford, considered by many the 
best "all round'' lawyer of the time in the city of 
New York, and who was drowned when the Collins 
steamer Arctic was lost in 1854, and Charles P. Kirk- 
land, then of Utica and afterwards of New York. 



73 

In the fall of 1847 he was employed, as a clerk, in 
mustering volunteers into the service of the United 
States at Louisville and Smithland, Kentucky, and 
Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. In the spring 
of 1848 he commenced the practice of his profession 
in New York, and his residence has been in New 
York and Brooklyn.* 

* Note 100. 



74 

Charles Courselle Churchill studied medi- 
cine and attended two winter courses of lectures at 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city 
of New York. For the reason that he received a 
commission in the army, the studies were not formal- 
ly completed, but the knowledge thus acquired proved 
very valuable in subsequent years. It happened, on 
more than one occasion, at some remote post, but 
temporarily established, and where a surgeon was not 
permanently stationed, that his acquirements were 
successfully applied. On the 3d of March, 1848, he 
received the commission of Second Lieutenant in the 
Third Artillery, to which regiment his father and 
brother had belonged, became First Lieutenant in 
due course of promotion June 3Gth, 1852, Captain, 
May 14th, 1 86 1, and was retired for disability con- 
tracted in the line of duty, February 28th, 1862. 
While he was on active duty he served on the 
Northern Line in Mexico, at New Orleans, Fort Mon- 
roe, Fort Adams, near Newport, R. I., Indian River 
and in the Everglades in Florida, Fort Independence 
in Boston Harbor, Governor's Island in New York 
Harbor, San Francisco, Benicia Barracks, San Diego 
Barracks at the old Mission and San Diego, Califor- 
nia, Fort Monroe, again, then, as now, an Artillery 
School of Practice, and where, at the beginning of 
the Civil War, he was on the staff of Gen. B. F. But- 
ler and that of Gen. Wool as Acting Assistant Adju- 
tant General, and at the Artillery Camp near the city 
of Washington. After he was retired he was on duty, 
in a military capacity, at Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, 
Harrisburgh, and Carlisle. He and Mrs. Churchill 
reside at Newport, Rhode Island. 



75 

Richard Cuyler Churchill entered the Mili- 
tary Academy, as a Cadet, July ist, 1862. In his 
first year he stood nineteenth in a class numbering 71 
at the end of the year; in his second the ninth in a 
class of 51, and was a corporal ; in his third the ninth 
in a class of 46, and was the Sergeant Major ; and in 
his fourth, or as a First Classman, he was the thir- 
teenth in a class of 41, and during the latter part of 
the year was the Adjutant of the Corps. His military 
positions at West Point were the same as those held 
by his father. On the i8th of June, 1866, he received 
the commission of Second Lieutenant in the Fourth 
Artillery, became First Lieutenant in due course of 
promotion, July 28th, 1866, and resigned in 1871, his 
resignation to take effect September ist, 1872. 
While in the army he was stationed at Fort Whip- 
ple, near the city of Washington, Fort Delaware, 
Delaware; at Philadelphia, and at the Academy at 
West Point, where he was Acting Assistant Professor 
of Drawing. After his resignation he resided in the 
vicinity of West Point, in the city of New York, and 
in the town of Ossining, near the village of Sing 
Sing. 

Josephine Young, whom R. C. C. married, as 
stated, was the youngest child, surviving them, of 
Henry Young, who was born in Westchester County, 
New York, in December, 1792, and died at Ossining 
in October, 1874, and Anne (Mason) Young, who 
was born in Rensselaer County, New York, in Janu- 
ary, 1 8 10, and died in the city of New York in Sep- 
tember, 1876. Henry Young was twice married. 
The children by his first wife. May Lathrop Hyde, 



76 

surviving him, were : Henry Lathrop, Mary Caroline 
(Mrs. Barnes), James Hyde, and Martha Ann (Mrs. 
Leavitt), and those by his second wife, surviving him, 
were: Mason, Ahce (Mrs. Eaton), and Josephine. 



n 

Spencer Fullerton Baird. 

The father of S. F. Baird was Samuel Baird, who 
was born at Norristown, Penn., in 1786, and died at 
Reading, Penn., in August, 1833. He was a son of 
Samuel Baird, who was born in Franklin Co., Penn., 
in 1758, and died near Philadelphia in 1820. Samuel 
Baird married Rebecca Potts at Pottstown, Penn., in 
1780. She was born in 1754 at Coldbrookdale Fur- 
nace, Penn., and died at Reading in 1830. The 
father of S. F. Baird married Lydia McFunn Biddle 
in i8i5,at Philadelphia. She was born at Philadel- 
phia, July 4th, 1797, and died at Carlisle, Penn., in 
June, 1871. Her father was William McFunn Bid- 
die, who was born at Philadelphia in 1765, and died 
there in August, 1809. Her mother, Lydia (Spencer) 
Biddle, was born m the State of Delaware in 1 766, 
and died at Carlisle in 1858. William McFunn B. 
and Lydia S. were married in 1 796. 

The following was prepared by the writer as a 
note, but he thinks it well to put it in another place, 
without any change of language : 

It is entirely beyond my capacity to write any- 
thing at all adequate to Prof. Baird. A volume 
would not suffice for an outline of the narrative of 
his life and works, and for recounting his merits. 
But, all this is unnecessary. Nothing, which I could 
say, is not already known. His reputation was as ex- 
tensive as was the knowledge of his name. There are 
probably few persons, who have devoted themselves 
to any branch of natural science, who have not heard 
of him, and to have heard of him, was to esteem and 
honor him. According to all natural anticipations he 



78 

might have reasonably expected ten years more of 
usefuhiess and activity ; but, without those years, his 
life was well rounded and complete. He lived to see 
the successful results, still working and progressing, 
of his favorite enterprises. He had the happmess of 
enjoying in advance, if, with his unselfishness, he ever 
thought of the subject, the favorable verdict of the 
future. It is a matter of certainty that his reputation 
will increase with passmg years. 

If I should write of his characteristics, his social 
qualities, and even his domestic life, I would merely 
state what is also already known. He was the only 
person, active and progressive, and holding positions 
of responsibility, and vested with the control and di- 
rection of others, whom I ever knew, who was with- 
out an enemy. Every one, who knew him, was his 
friend, and those, who knew him well, loved as well 
as respected him. I have known persons who were 
warm in their sympathies and full of kindly feeling 
for others, but were not always well balanced and wise, 
and thoughtful and provident in counsel and in ar- 
ranging and acting for the good of others. Prof. 
Baird united all those qualities in an equal and ex- 
ceptional degree. It followed that his influence upon 
all the young gentlemen and other persons, who were 
ever, in any way, associated with him, was most ben- 
eficial to them. It was for this reason, with others, 
that he inspired so many with his love for science. 
As has been written of him already by another, " he 
healed many feuds, brought angry people to chari- 
table and kindly feelings, and there were many things 
which he himself had forgiven." 

A large proportion of his acquaintances knew 



79 

something of his domestic life, and will, according to 
the degree of that knowledge, agree with me that I 
am right in stating that, as a son, a brother, a husband, 
and a father, and, as it gives me pleasure to add, a son- 
in-law and a brother-in-law, he ranked with the best. 
He could not well have been more devoted, visibly, 
to his own parents than he was to mine, and the rel- 
atives and connections of his wife were as his own. 
For these reasons, if there were no others, my rela- 
tives and connections, having been grateful to him 
while he lived, will, during our lives, bear him in hon- 
ored and tender remembrance. 



NOTES. 



Note i. There is no evidence that John, Josias, and the two named 
William, or any two of the four, were related. It is opportune to refer, 
in this connection, to another point. I have seen persons of the name or 
blood of Churchill, and have heard of others, who are so weak and at the 
same time so ill informed as to believe that they are descendants of John 
Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough. A lady showed me, at one 
time, a letter envelope, enclosing a note sent to her by a Mrs. Churchill, 
on which was an engraving, covering its entire face, of the Ducal Arms 
of Marlborough ! Waivinj^ the point whether any one should take pride 
in being a descendant of the first Duke, exceptionally great as he un- 
doubtedly was, those who, in this country, make any such claims, are 
ignorant of a few facts which may be mentioned. John Churchill, of Ply- 
mouth, was married in 1644; Josias, of Weathersfield, in 1638; William, 
of New York, was a resident previous to 1672, and William of Virginia, 
was probably an adult in 1666; while John Churchill, who was made 
Duke of Marlborough in 1702, was not born till 1650. Besides this, 
his only son died in his minority, and the title passed to his oldest 
daughter Henrietta, Countess of Godolphin, from whom it descended 
to her nephew, Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, a son of her sister 
Anne. The family name of the present Duke is Spencer-Churchill. I 
may add, as to any supposition of relationship with the ducal family, 
that there is no basis for such supposition other than the name, and that 
the facts stated show that any relationship must be very remote. 

It has been suggested that, for the reason that the same Christian 
names are often found among the descendants of John and Josias, the 
two were related. I do not see any force in the suggestion. The fact 
is, and this sketch is an illustration of the fact, that, until the beginning 
of the present century-, Bible, and, generally, Old Testament, names were 
much used in New England, and I do not attach much significance to 
the fact that any such name is found repeated in one family. The set- 
tlers of New England were but little inclined to name their children after 
the Christian Saints (admitting that they ever heard of them), and rarely 
did they take any name from the drama, romance, or profane history. 

I think it well to add that everything, which is stated in this sketch, 
6 [81] 



concerning William Churchill, of New York, and William Churchill, of 
Virginia (including, even, their names), is based upon information re- 
ceived by me from the gentlemen in Boston to whom I have referred in 
the Preface. Except that I have seen the name of Josiah (properly 
Jc^ias) Churchill in the New England Historical and Genealogical Reg- 
ister, I know nothing about the ancestors of any persons of the name in 
this country other than as appears in the sketch. The name is far from 
being an unusual one in some of the States. In the fall of 1847 I at- 
tended an evening reception in Louisville, at which, as I was afterwards 
told, half a dozen gentlemen of the name were present. 



Note 2. These two dates, according to the present system of dis- 
tinguishing New Year's Day, are, beyond a doubt, January 12th, 17 19; 
and March 24th, 1 735. Therefore, Ichabod was born about two years 
and one month after William, and Lydia about two years and four 
months after Ebenezer. These intervals of time approximate to those 
between the births of most of any consecutive two of the other children. 
Prior to and until within a few centuries past, and, in some parts of the 
world, until long after the commencement of the i8th century. New Year's 
Day was not designated as at present. For this reason, and in order to 
remove all uncertainty, when an event took place before or on Easter 
Day, and it was necessary to make an entry or record of the event, those, 
who were aware of the confusion attaching to the subject, placed double 
dates on gravestones and other memorial structures, and in private and 
public records. It is on account of ignorance on this point, or careless- 
ness, that historians and genealogists sometimes err in their statements 
concerning the years in which certain occurrences took place. The fol- 
lowing extracts may be of interest : " Christmas Day, the Annunciation 
(March 25th), Easter Day and March ist, have all, at different times and 
places, shared, with the ist of January, the honor of opening the New 
Year; and it was not till late in the i6th century that the first of January 
was universally accepted as the first day of the year " (Chambers' En- 
cyclopaedia, Article Afr'T£/ Year'' s Day.) "The Julian Calendar did not 
completely rectify the error [the error on one side, being that the year 
consisted of 365 days, and, on the other, involved in the Julian Calendar, 
that it consisted of 365^ days], and Pope Gregory XIII, in 1 582, reformed 
the calendar. The days from October 5th to 14th were suppressed, and, 
in order to prevent errors, the century years 1700, 1800, were not to be 
regarded as leap years. * * * By the reformation of the calendar by 
Pope Gregory XIII the year began on the first day of January, and, con- 
sequently, whenev'er and wherever the New Style of reckoning time 
was adopted, then and there the year commenced on that day. Previous 



to the use of the Gregorian Calendar the years had dififerent days of be- 
ginning at various times in the same and different countries, and, occa- 
sionally, at the same time in the same country. In most countries it 
began on one of the following days: Christmas Day, the 25th of Decem- 
ber: Circumcision Day, the ist of January, Lady Day, the 25th of 
March; or Easter Day, the day of the Resurrection of OUR Lord." 
(Sadlier's Catholic Directory, Almanac and Ordo for 1886. See, also, 
Appleton's Encyclopedia, Articles Calendar and C/ironology.) It will be 
readily understood that, to the confusion arising from varying local cus- 
toms as to the commencement of the year, was added the further con- 
fusion arising from the suppression of ten days by the Gregorian Calen- 
dar, whenever that Calendar, or, rather, the purely scientific improvement 
which it recognized and reduced to form, was adopted. The people of 
various countries clung to the old custom of designating days and sea- 
sons, and naturally could not account for or practically apply the omission 
of ten or more days. The New Style was not adopted in England till 
175 1, when an Act of Parliament was passed (24. Geo. II, 1751) by which 
it was enacted that in Great Britain and Ireland eleven days should be 
omitted after the 2d of September, 1752, so that the ensuing day should 
be the 14th. The Act, of course, extended to the Colonies in its effects, 
even if they were not named, and it is probable that many years passed 
before old ideas and customs were obliterated. I remember that, in my 
boyhood, in North Carolina, I often heard a middle-aged mulatto woman 
speak of Old Christmas in distinction from the Christmas which was then 
recognized and observed. If the use of the New Style was introduced 
within the time of persons whom she knew in her youth, Christmas came 
too soon, and the change must have caused much confusion in the minds 
of the mass of the people, and particularly in the minds of the negroes. 
With the latter the Christmas Holy days were holidays indeed, days when 
labor was, to a great extent, suspended and extra allowances of food were 
provided. It has often occurred to me that the expression "Old Christ- 
mas'' was a relic of the confusion caused by the substitution of the 
" New Style " for the " Old Style." In England the people used to say : 
" Who stole the eleven days ? Give us back the eleven days." See 
Chambers' Book of Days, Vol. i, p. 105. 



Note 3. It may be well to remark that, in addition to the children 
named here and in other parts of the sketch, there may have been other 
children who died in their infancy or in early youth. The intervals be- 
tween the dates of the births of some of the children mentioned indicate 
that such may have been the case. Perhaps, too, children who did not 
survive their parents, or who did not leave descendants, may have been 
omitted. 



84 

Note 4. In the summer of 1835 Major Churchill and his family visited 
Woodstock. His father's farm was then occupied by his brother Levi, 
and, I understand, was owned by him On one occasion the four broth- 
ers, Levi, Joseph, Sylvester, and Isaac, with others, were assembled on 
the place. It was " haying time," and it was proposed by some one that 
the brothers should enter the meadow and mow in company. The pro- 
position was approved, and Levi, then 63 years old, took the lead, and 
the others followed in due order, according- to their years, as space was 
cleared for them. Finally, Isaac, then 48 years old, brought up the rear, 
and the four scythes, each cutting a broad swath, swung together as one. 
Though I was among the visitors at the farm, I did not see this, but my 
mother, who was present, told me that it was an interesting and touching 
spectacle. 



Note 5. In the summer of 1835 Alajor Churchill and his family were 
in Montpelier and visited the new State House, then nearly completed, 
and the old State House which was in a condition of dilapidation, and I 
remember that my father called our attention to a portion of the latter 
building in the construction of which he had personally participated. 



Note 6. I have recently received the present of a pamphlet, the title 
page of which is as follows: || An 1| ORATION || pronounced at || WIND- 
SOR, II before the || Worshipful Master, Wardens, and Brethren 
II of II Vermont Lodge, || on the 27th December, A. L. 5808, || at the 
Festival of || St. John the Evangelist. || By Brother Hosca Ballon. 
II Published at the request of the Lodge. \\ WINDSOR, II Printed at the 
office of the Vermont Republican, || By Br. Sylvester Church- 
ill. II 5809. II 

I suppose that "Brother Hosea Ballou '" was the distinguished Uni- 
versalist clergyman of that name. 

I often heard my father mention the fact that he was an active Free- 
mason in early life. At the time of his death he had not entered a Lodge 
for many years, for, at least, thirty years, and, probably, for nearly fifty 
years. Among my earliest recollections are those of hearing my elders 
speak of the Masonic and Anti-Masonic Parties, and of reading para- 
graphs in the papers relating to the same subject. I understood nothing 
of which I heard and read. In my opinion, irrespective of the deference 
which is due from me to any exterior authority, there is much that is 
objectionable in Freemasonry and similar organizations, but I have 
never been able to comprehend why a political party should have been 



85 

formed upon the issue of the merits or demerits of Freemasonr}^ When 
a pohtical party is formed, it is, of course, to initiate or oppose legisla- 
tion. I think that the issue was one to be decided by each individual for 
himself, and that there was no occasion for legislation concerning it. 
The Anti-Masonic Party grew rapidly, and as rapidly disappeared. 
Its rapid growth attracted to it those who are to be found in everj' 
community who are ready to " jump on " to anything which will 
give them publicity, place, profit or influence. It was a fanatical 
party also, and this fact had two natural results: one that it found 
an opponent in the Democratic Party, or, as it was then sometimes 
termed, the Jackson party; and the other that its coolheaded leaders en- 
couraged this fanatical spirit. Anything which could be turned to ac- 
count was a " good enough Morgan " for them. In order to illustrate 
the spirit of the rank and file of the party and that of its leaders I can 
repeat "a good story" which I heard many years ago. A newly-elected 
member of the Assembly (whether a Freemason or not was not stated, 
but he was not an Anti-Mason) on reaching Albany, where he was a 
stranger, inadvertently established himself at a hotel wiiich was mainly 
frequented by the plainer Anti-Masonic members and their friends. 
Though he was devoted to his party, he knew that there was a time for 
all things, and he bore himself accordingly, but he complained bitterly 
to his political friends that the Anti-Masons at that hotel were not con- 
tent with the discussions at the Capitol, but were spouting and arguing 
all the time. Finally, he said to them that he could stand it no longer, 
and had moved to another hotel, which he named. Though they knew 
that he would find the change an improvement, they could not help say- 
ing to their rural friend : " That will never do ; don't you know that that 
hotel is the headquarters of and , the leaders of the Anti- 
Masonic Party ? " The answer was : " That's nothing; lean get along 

very well with such men as and , but those damned fools 

at that other hotel are in earnest." 



Note 7. My father was a subscriber for Niles's Register for some 
years. I remember that, whenever a weekly number arrived, no one was 
permitted to touch it until he had unfolded and smoothed it, then folded 
and refolded it, accurately adjusting the edges of the printed portions, 
fastened the back and then cut the folded edges with an ivory folder. 
When a sufficient number of the weekly issues of the Register had ac- 
cumulated, he prepared them for the binder by stitching them together 
by means of a large needle and a long thread securely and uniformly 
fastened. I remember that on one occasion I watched the latter pro- 
ceeding with much interest, but did not understand its ^lurpose, and only 



86 



learned its importance years afterwards, when, on passing through the 
Hall of Records in New York, while " examining a title," I saw a book- 
binder stitchmg, m the same manner, the leaves of some old "Libers" 
which had been brought to a bad condition by use and decay, and which 
were to be re-bound. The image of the proceeding, which I had seen 
and watched at Smithviile, came up before me, and I remembered that 
my mother sat near, an interested spectator. This knowledge of the de- 
tails of printing was of great service to my father m subsequent years, in 
preparing forms and instructions for mustering volunteers. In the fall of 
1847, at Louisville, I saw him prepare such forms and instructions, and 
correct '' the proofs " when they came from the printer. 



Note 8. He told me once that, on the occasion of his inspecting a 
depot of army clothing, the person in charge — of course, not an officer of 
the army — while in one of the rooms in the depot, brought out from a 
secret place a bottle of whiskey, and asked him if he would "take a 
drink." He received a severe rebuke, my father telling him that, in the 
entire course of his service, no such proposition had ever been made to 
him. Far different was it when, 'while he was mustering a western regi- 
ment into the service of the United States during the Mexican war, a 
man approached him and said : " Old boss, when do you think you will 
reach my company)" There may have been timely instruction, but 
there could have been no rebuke. In fact, my father was amused, and 
afterwards spoke of the occurrence, as illustrative of the manners and 
language of plain men in that part of the country, to my mother, who 
narrated it to me with much glee. 



Note 9. I rarely read the word "profanity," or hear it spoken, that I 
do not think of a definition given to me by my much esteemed and ad- 
mired friend, Judge Robert Safford Hale, of Elizabethtown, Essex coun- 
ty, New York, as he heard it : '" Profanity is the unnecessary use of pro- 
fane language." I formed the acquaintance of Judge Hale in 1839, when 
I was sixteen years old —he a Sophomore and I a Freshman in college — 
and was intimate with him till the time of his death, in 188 1. There was 
never a word, or, I believe, a thought which tended to mar our friend- 
ship. I think that his social qualities were superior to those oi any man 
(if my mother could be excepted I could say any person) 1 ever knew. 
He was not a man of learning in any special branch of knowledge (there 
was no call or opportunity for him to be such), but his reading of Eng- 
lish authors was varied and wide, his information, consequently, of the 



87 

same character, his verbal memory and capacity to apply his attainments 
exceptionally great, and his wit and humor exuberant. He and I differed 
in some of our opinions, but such difference went for nothing between us. 
His sympathies and his friendship were not extended or withheld on ac- 
count of the opinions of others on subjects which fairly furnished 
grounds for difference of opinion. For many years I was a welcome 
visitor at his house. His wife was and is one of my most esteemed 
friends, and his children have grown up under my eye. 



Note io. Sylvanus Thayer (born in Mass.) : Cadet, March, 1807; 
Sec. Lt. Eng., Feb. '08; First Lt., July, '12; Dep't Com. of Ordnance 
(rank of Capt.), Sept. '12; Chief Eng. of Maj. Gen. Dearborn's Army, 
'12; and of the Right Div., commanded by Maj. Gen. Hampton, '13; 
Aid de C. to the latter, 'i3-'i4; Capt. Eng., Oct. '13; Chief Eng. in the 
defences of Norfolk, '14; Brig. Major to Brig. Gen. Porter, '14- 15; 
Bvt. Major, Feb. '15 ; Bvt. Lt. Col, March, '23; Maj. Eng., May, '28; Bvt. 
Col., March, '33; Lt. Col. Eng., July, '38; Col. Eng., March, '63; Bvt. 
Brig. Gen., May, '63; retired, March, '63; died, Sept. '72, at South Brain- 
tree, Mass. 



Note ii. It was far different in the war with Mexico, which com- 
menced about thirty one years after the termination of the war of 1812- 
14. Gardner's Dictionary shows that not less than thirty-fi\'e ofificers of 
the Regulars, whose first commissions bore date before January, 181 5, 
served in Mexico, and this number does not include the names of two or 
three officers whose presence in Mexico, though stated in the Dictionary, 
may be doubted. With but one or two exceptions, those officers were 
actually in the field, on the march, and in battle. They did not merely 
accompa7iy the troops— merely moved along by the current of militar}^ 
operations; they actively participated in those operations, and, when 
their rank entitled them to high commands, they led. Those who led 
were not indebted, more than is usual, to the activity— mental or physi- 
cal — or the suggestions, of younger men. They planned and executed. 
Old Bluchcr had no more push than had Taylor and Wool, Scott and 
Worth, Twiggs, Kearney and Churchill, and others. Most, if not all of 
them, were nearly 60 years old, and many of them had passed that time 
of Hfe. A writer in the Army and Navy Journal stated, some years ago, 
that the Mexicans commented upon the fact that the American troops 
were commanded by gray-haired men. Possibly the high reputation 
which those old officers gained in the Mexican war was due, in part, to 



the fact that, in the reduction of the army in 1815, there was an instance 
of the ''survival of the fittest." Not only were those retained who had 
distinguishedthemselves, but those who had shown a special aptitude for 
military life. It cannot be doubted that, in the formation of the peace 
establishment, these points were kept in view. 



Note 12. Much of all which has appeared, in poetry and prose, con- 
cerning the '"embattled farmers" of the War of Independence, is rhe- 
torical flourish, and, moreover, tends to lead our people to underrate 
military training and preparations for war, and to believe that the soldier, 
like the poet, is born and not made. It is true that the English Colonies 
had no standing army and no military schools, but they had a great 
amount of military experience, much of which was gained in actual war- 
fare. I have read (I do not now remember where, but I know that I 
considered the statement one upon which reliance could be placed) that 
Massachusetts had, at one time, twelve regiments of troops in the Eng- 
lish service, and it is known that Massachusetts was not an exception. I 
have no data at hand. There was warfare, or preparations for warfare, 
all along the line which separated the French and English colonies. Of 
the land forces, about 4,000 in number, which participated in the siege 
of Louisburg in 1745 — a siege which was vigorously though unscientific- 
ally prosecuted for forty-nine days — nearly all, if not all, were from the 
colonies. Israel Putnam was present at the capture of Havanna in 
1762, and in command of a regiment. There were colonial troops with 
Generals Braddock, Amherst, Abercrombie, Johnson, Col. Bradstreet, 
and others. For years at a time, from about 1690 till the capture of 
Quebec, the frontiers, from New England to Georgia, were disturbed, 
and offensive and defensive operations were carried on, and from an 
earlier date there had been warfare with the Indians, in which the mother 
country did not directly participate. Nearly all of the able-bodied men 
were expert in the use of fire-arms, and many had used them in warfare. 
A few of the principal officers in the War of Independence had been en- 
gaged m the occupation of surveying land, an occupation which emi- 
nently qualified those who had followed it for an important part of the 
operations of military life. 

See Appendix A. 



Note 13. I think it well to insert a copy of portions of the letter, as 
follows : 



89 

Carlisle, Wed., Nov. 21, 1849. 



Dear Frank: 



I had seen the oration of Mr. Van Buren upon Worth, Duncan and 
Gates before the receipt of the paper from you, and I have noted some 
of the errors and forwarded the paper to Charles * * * 
Ringgold, Duncan, etc., were not the creators of the light or any other 
artillery. Ringgold's was light artillery, of which we had a regiment 
(Porter, Fenwick and Eustis the field officers) in the war of 181 2, in 
which every man was viotatted^ and I inspected repeatedly six or seven 
of the companies at Plattsburg and other places. And there were nu- 
merous companies, one of which I commanded while a lieutenant in 
181 2-3, like those of Duncan's, Washington's, with horses for the carri- 
ages, and called field artz'llery, the proper designation or name for that 
equipment. But in all the artillery arm, like that of infa7iiry, there has 
been great improvement since the war with England ; improvement in 
the carriages, ammunition and drill. We have now several systems of 
exercise and manceuvers for artillery — by American authors, and furnished 
by the government— whereas then there was none, and [here the letter 
proceeds as in the body of the sketch, and then takes up other subjects]. 



Note 14. Henry Dearborn (born in N. H., 1751 ; app'd from Mass). 
[Colonel in Revolution; Rep. in Cong., '93 to '97; Sec. of War, March, 
'01, to March, '09.] Maj. Gen. and General in Chief, Jan., '12; dis- 
banded June, '15. [Minister Plenipo. to Portugal, May, '22; died at Rox- 
bury, Mass., June, '29.] 



Note 15. Wade Hampton (born in 1754 in S. C). Col. Light Dra- 
goons, Oct., '08; Brig. Gen., Feb., '09; Maj. Gen. March, '13; res'd April, 
'14. [Died at Columbia, S. C, Feb., '35.] 



Note 16. James Wilkinson. (Born 1757, in Maryland.) [Adj. Gen. 
in Gates' Army at Saratoga, '']']. ^ Lt. Col. Com'd'g 2d Inf., Nov., '91 ; 
commanded on the Wabash, '91, and Feb., '92; Brig. Gen. March, '92; 
commanded right wing ot W^ayne's Army in his victory, Aug., '94, at the 
Maumee Rapids, and was distinguished; Gov. of Lou. Ter., Dec, '05 to 
'07; Gen. in Chief of the Army from Dec, '96, to July, '98, and 
from June, 1800, to Jan., '12; Bvt. Maj. Gen., March, '12; Maj. Gen., 
March, '13; disbanded, June, '15. [Died near Mexico, Dec, '25.] 



go 

Note 17. George Izard. (Born 1777, in S. C.) Lieut. Art. and Eng., 
June, '94 [Lieut, in French Corps of Eng., '96, '97]; Engr. of Fortifica- 
tions in Charleston Karbor, '98; Capt., July, '99; Aid de C. to Maj.- 
Gen. Alex. Hamilton, Dec, '99; retained April, '02, as Capt. Art; re- 
signed June, '03; Col. 2d Art., March, '12; Brig. Gen., March, '13; 
Maj. Gen., Jan., '14; disbanded June, '15. [Gov. of Ark. Ter., March, 
'25 till he died at Little Rock, Nov., '28.] (My father held the military 
capacity of Gen. Izard in very high esteem, and thought that nothing but 
want of opportunity prevented his gaining great distinction.) 



Note 18. While my father was on the Niagara frontier an occurrence 
took place which, as it resulted in his cutting a walking stick, which, I 
believe, is now in my possession, and, if such is the case, is a relic of the 
war of '12-14, I think it well to mention. Whether I had the narrative 
from my father, or from my uncle, William Guy Hunter, or partly from 
each, or from other sources, I do not recollect ; my memory is defective as 
to the details. There had been, on some occasion, a desultory cannon- 
ading by two batteries of the American and British Armies on the Cana- 
dian side of the river, until about sunset, when my father was directed to 
go out to the American battery with an order to cease firing and retire. 
My father and Capt. Towson (afterwards Paymaster General), who com- 
manded the battery, were sitting on their horses chatting and awaiting 
the movements of the soldiers, when a shot from the enemy's battery 
turned up a hickory sapling by the roots, or tore off and shattered a 
branch of a hickory tree standing in the vicinity^ Upon this Capt. Tow- 
son said that he would be damned if they should have the last shot, 
and ordered the soldiers to unlimber one gun and return the fire, and this 
they proceeded to do. In the meantime my father dismounted, and cut 
wood sufficient for a walking stick from the sapling or branch whichever 
it was. The narrative told me was that a walking stick was subsequently 
made, but that it had been broken and lost or thrown away as useless. 
I thought no more about the subject until some years after my father's 
death, when my cousin, Franklin Hunter Cutting, a nephew of my 
mother, made me a present of a walking stick, which, beyond a reason- 
able doubt, was made from the wood cut on the Niagara frontier. My 
cousin knew nothing of its early history, but knew that it had been at a 
remote time the property of my father. On conferring with two of my 
relatives I found that one had no knowledge of the matter, and that the 
memory of the other had failed. Finally, another nephew of my mother, 
Villeroi S. Aikens, some eight years older than I, told me that he had no 
knowledge of the early history of the stick, but that he remembered 
seeing it in his early childhood in the possession of his grandfather and 



91 

mine, Hon. William Hunter, in Windsor, Vermont. The wood is hick- 
ory. The handle is made of deer horn, a material much used by my 
father as handles for walking sticks, into which is set a silver plate 
marked S. C. The wooden part is very unsightly, with ugly crooks and 
with scars made by decayed branches which had fallen or been broken 
off. As my father was very particular in selecting materials for walking 
sticks, of which he collected a large number during his life, this fact alone 
proves that the material in this instance was procured and preserved on 
account of some unusual circumstance connected with it. The ferule 
is nearly four inches and a half long, three times the usual length of a 
ferule, and the wood has evidently been split and shattered nearly three 
inches above the ferule. I do not believe that the stick was broken after 
it was made; but, if such was the case, a stick so ugly would not have 
been repaired unless it had unusual value in the mind of the owner. I 
think that its " honorable wounds " were the result of the enemy's shot, 
which the plucky Capt. Towson so promptly returned ; and that, for this 
reason, my father carefully preserved the wood, prepared the stick, and 
presented it to his father-in law, who, himself, served in the Revolution 
under Montgomery, at Quebec and elsewhere. 



Note 19. Ale.xander Macomb, Jr. (Born 1782, at Detroit; app'd 
from N. Y.) Cornet Cav., Jan., '99; Sec. Lt., Feb., '01 ; retained April, 
'02, in 2d Inf.; ist Lt. Eng., Oct., '02; Capt., June, '05; Maj., Feb., '08; 
Lt. Col., July, '10; Acting Adj. Gen. of the Army, April, '12; Col. 3d 
Art., July, '12; Brig. Gen., Jan., '14; Bvt. Maj. Gen , for victory at Pitts- 
burgh, Sept., '14; rec'd thanks of Congress, Nov., '14, with the presen- 
tation of a gold medal; retained, April, '15; retained. May, '21, as Colonel 
and Principal Eng. with brevets; Maj. Gen. and Gen. in Chief, May, 
'28; Commanded the Army of Florida, March, '36; died, June, '41, at 
Washington. 



Note 20. Daniel Parker. [Chief Clerk of the War Dept. J (appointed 
from Mass.) Adj. and Ins. Gen., rank of Brig. Gen , Nov., '14; Provis- 
ionally retained. May, '15 ; Paymaster Gen., June, '21 ; superseded, ]\Iay, 
'22. [Chief Clerk War Dept., Nov., '41 ; died at W^ashington, April, '46.] 
^W° For explanation of certain facts in this officer's history see note on 
Nathan Towson, below. 



Note 21. It strikes me that the question may well be raised whether 
the administration had any design, during the war cf 1812-14, of seriously 



92 

invading Canada, much less of making a conquest of British America, or 
any portion of it. Some of the " Armies of Invasion " did not even 
march up a hill, and those which did, marched down again. It appears 
to me that every one of the armies was very weak in numbers and equip- 
ment if it was expected to make a successful invasion, and to reduce, or 
hold, even temporarily, any portion of the country. No one, so far as I 
can see, can be compared in numbers and appointment with either one 
of the three armies commanded, respectively, by Sir George Prevost at 
Plattsburgh, Gen. Ross at Washington and Baltimore, and Sir Edward 
Packenham at New Orleans. But it would not be in accord with the 
spirit of our institutions and the genius of our people, to make a perma- 
nent conquest of a country occupied by a large and hostile population. 
To hold any such country indefinitely as a subject Territory, or to admit 
it into the Union as a State, would be contrary to all our ideas. Our 
acquisitions have always been of either sparsely settled regions or of 
those occupied by a friendly population. The people of Canada were 
not friendly to us at the time of our War of Independence. With but 
few exceptions the inhabitants of the French and English Colonies dif- 
fered in language, religion, and historical antecedents. Their ancestors, 
the original emigrants, brought with them the impressions and effects 
produced by the long-continued hostilities of the mother countries. 
There was nothing in their experience, as colonists, to remove those im- 
pressions and effects. It seems strange that people in America should 
be at war with each other on matters strictly European in their character, 
such, for instance, as the Spanish Succession, but such was the fact. The 
aborigines were enlisted in the wars which resulted from those European 
quarrels. The Hurons and Iroquois had often been enemies. As a 
result of this the French found many allies among the former and the 
English among the latter; and, consequently, to the horrors of civilized 
warfare were united those which resulted from the methods followed by 
savages when on the warpath. To those obstacles in the way of gaining 
the participation, or, at least, the neutrality of the Canadians in the revolt 
of the English colonies, was added another which was the offspring of 
the bigotry of some of our people, and who were not content to unite 
wnth the mass of their countrymen in the statement of grievances. The 
Treaty between France and England, which resulted from the conquest 
of Canada by the English, guaranteed to the Canadians their religion, 
liberty and property in return for their allegiance and fidelity to the Brit- 
ish crown. Strange to tell, this act of wisdom, as well as of justice, was 
considered a grievance and made a matter of public complaint by the 
English colonies against the mother country. The Provincial Congress 
(of Massachusetts), which sat in Boston in 1773, stated, in one of its ad- 
dresses : '' The late act, establishing the Catholic religion in Canada, is 
dangerous, in an extreme degree, to the Protestant religion, and to the 



93 

civil rights and liberties of America." Several of the other colonies had 
used similar language in communicating their grievances to England. In 
an Address to the People of Great Britain, adopted by Congress (of the 
several Colonies) in 1774, the following language was used concerning 
the same act, commonly known as the "Quebec Act," which did not es- 
tablish a State Church, but simply guaranteed to the Catholics in Canada 
the free exercise of their religion and the rights of conscience: " Nor can 
we suppress our astonishment that a British Parliament should ever con- 
sent to establish in that country [Canada] a religion that has deluged your 
island in blood," &c., &c. In February, 1776, Congress appointed Ben- 
jamm Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Com- 
missioners to proceed to Montreal and endeavor to induce the Canadians 
to join the Colonies in the struggle, or, at least, to remain neutral, and 
Congress requested Charles Carroll to induce his cousin, Rev. John Car- 
roll, afterwards Archbishop of Baltimore, and who had passed more than 
twenty years in various European countries, to accompany them to 
Canada. He did so, not for the purpose of gaining allies, but to obtain 
the neutrality of the Canadians. The mission was fruitless. In vain did 
the Commissioners appeal to later utterances of Congress and to the 
language of the "Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec," 
then presented by them. The Canadians preferred to remain under the 
rule of England, already tested, rather than to entrust their fortune to a 
people whose views had been made known freely, fully, and without dis- 
guise, and whose recent utterances, having been made for the occasion, 
were justly regarded w-ith suspicion. For details upon this point I refer 
to the Life of Most Rev. John Carroll, D.D., in the " Lives of the Deceased 
Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States," by Richard H. 
Clarke, LL. D. 

There is no reason to suppose that the inhabitants of the English 
Colonies had become any more friendly toward the people of the United 
States in 1812-14 than they were in 1776. Old feelings of hostility may 
have been mollified, but others had taken their place, and they were en- 
tertained, not by the French Canadians, generally mild and peaceful, but 
by persons of English blood ; pugnacious, intelligent and active, and 
possessed of much influence which they were prompt to exert. The 
English government had been liberal to the American Tories by grants 
of money and of land. On the other hand, the estates of the wealthy 
Tories had been confiscated, and, by means of the operations of some 
of the "Rings" of the time, without adequate returns into the empty 
treasuries of the States which had passed and enforced the acts of con- 
fiscation. Many of the Tories left the places of their birth and their 
homes, sullen and impoverished, accompanying the British fleets, and 
many of them settled in Nova Scotia and elsewhere in the English Col- 
onies. I did not know, when, a boy 12 and 13 years old in 1835 and 



94 

1836 in Eastport, Maine, I noticed some little manifestations of hostile 
feelings on the part of persons from across the line, what was the ground 
of such feelings, but I afterwards came to the conclusion that those 
persons -were either the descendants of the Tories, or had been influenced 
by them or their children. 

Not all of the Tories left the United States, nor have their opinions 
failed to influence the opinions of some of their descendants. My mother 
told me that, when my father was stationed at " The Narrows," she knew 
some elderly ladies residing in the vicinity, one of whom was named 
Stewart, who did not fail to express a regret that the Colonies had sepa- 
rated from England. In the summer of 1850 I passed a week or so at 
the Fort Hamilton House, since destroyed by fire, and I noticed that the 
hotel had been built on each side of, and above, so as to include it, what 
undoubtedly had been a private residence of much pretension, and I saw, 
over the main door, a stone tablet on which the name of Stewart had 
been cut. I concluded that in that house had probably dwelt one of the 
old Tory acquaintances of my mother. Peace to their ashes. 



Note 22. During the time my father was stationed in the Harbor of 
New York he was authorized to go to Vermont to enlist recruits In- 
deed, if my memory of what I heard is correct, he " raised " an entire 
company with the exception of a nucleus of a few non-commissioned 
ofificers and men. In order to show what were the methods of travel at 
that time it is well to say that, when the requisite number of recruits had 
been obtained, the detachment marched from Windsor to Hartford, 
Conn., and went thence on a sloop to New York. The detachment must 
have been accompanied by a subaltern, for I often heard my father and 
mother speak of the fact that they traveled in a private conveyance, 
starting on each day after the detachment had marched, overtaking and 
passing it, and going on to the country inn where it was to halt. Most 
of the recruits, as it may well be supposed, were " truly rural." My 
mother told me that, at one of the halting places, a recruit, having re- 
moved his shoes and stockings, provided himself with a large bowl of 
bread and milk, and, coming into the room where she was sitting, drew 
a chair toward the stove, sat down, thrust his naked feet beneath the 
stove, and consumed his simple repast at leisure. Those who knew 
her, can appreciate how immensely amused she must have been, and can 
understand that she let the proceeding pass without comment knowing 
that the recruit would profit by future experience. 



Note 23. Jonathan Williams. (Born in Boston in 1750; app'd from 
Penn.) Maj. 2d Art. and Eng.. Feb, '01; Inspector of Fortifications, 



95 

Dec, 'oi, and Supt. Mil. Acad'y; retained, April, '02, Maj. Eng. ; Lt. 
Col. Eng., July, '02; resigned, June. '03; Lt. Col. Eng., April, '05; Col., 
Feb., '08; resigned, July, '12. [Elected Rep. in Cong, from Phil., '14; 
died May, '15.] (A son, Alexander J. Williams, A'ho graduated from 
West Point in '11, was killed Aug., '14, in the defense of Fort Erie. 



Note 24. Eleazer D. Wood. (Born in N. Y.) Cadet, July, '06; 
Sec. Lt. Eng., Oct., '06; Est. Lt., Feb., '08; Capt., July, '12; Bvt. Maj. 
for services in defense of Fort Meigs, May, '13 ; distinguished in Battle 
of the Thames, Oct., '13; Act. Adj. Gen. to Maj. Gen. Harrison, Oct., 
'13; Bvt. Lt. Col. for gallantry in Battle of Niagara, July, '14; distin- 
guished in defense of Fort Erie; killed, Sept., '14, in Brown's sortie from 
Fort Erie. (The County of Wood, in Ohio, containing the site of Fort 
Meigs, was named after him, and Maj. Gen. Brown erected a monument 
to his memory at West Point.) 



Note 25. Winfield Scott (born in Va., Jan., 1785), Capt. Light Art., 
May, '08; Lt. Col. 2nd Art, July, '12; distinguished in assault on 
Oueenstown Heights, Oct., '12; and made prisoner with nearly 800 
others for the reason that the N. Y. militia, who, it had been arranged, 
should cross the river in order to support the force which commenced 
the attack, refused to do so, on the alleged ground that they could not be 
ordered beyond the boundary of the State; the real ground probably be- 
ing that they were not "eager for the fray," which had commenced and 
contmued within their hearing, if not in their sight. If, as is possible, 
they had been drafted, their assertion of State Rights' doctrines must be 
regarded as, at least, timely; Adj. Gen. (rank of Col.), March, '13; Col. 
2nd Art., Mar., '13; led the attack in the capture of Fort George, outlet 
of the Niagara river, and badly injured by the explosion of a magazine, 
May, '13: Brig. Gen., Mar., '14; in the Battle of Chippewa, July 5th, '14; 
in the Battle of Niagara, July 25th, '14, and twice wounded, once se- 
verely; Bvt. Maj. Gen. for dis. services in conflicts at Chippewa and Ni- 
agara, and uniform gallantry and good conduct as an officer in army 
commanded by Maj. Gen. Brown, Sept., '14; received gold medal from 
Congress, Nov., '14; retained, April, '15; Maj. Gen. and Gen. in Chief 
OF THE Army, June, '41 ; took command in person of the army in Mex- 
ico, Dec, '46, and made campaign from capture of Vera Cruz, March, 
'47, to capture of City of Mexico, Sept., '47; rec'd thanks of Congress, 
March, '48, for uniform gallantry and good conduct conspicuously dis- 
played in the siege and capture of the City of Vera Cruz and Castle of 
San Juan de Ulloa, and the successive battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, 



96 

San Antonio and Churubusco, and the victories in front of the City of 
Mexico and the capture of the city; rec'd a gold medal from Congress; 
retired, on his own application, Nov., '6i ; died at West Point, May, "66. 

(Gen. Scott was not only a great soldier, but a great man. Ke was 
educated at William and Marj' College, had been admitted to the bar, 
and through life was a great reader, and, in some respects, a student. 
In whatever position he was placed he displayed superior ability. Some 
of his duties were not of a military character. Those duties were of a 
nature such as to demand the exercise of great delicacy and tact, and con- 
sideration for the sensitiveness of others, and prompt decisions and firm- 
ness. He met those requirements in an eminent degree. The most impor 
tant matters, not of a military nature, in reference to which his influence 
was beneficially exerted, under orders, were : The Nullification troubles in 
South Carolina in 1832; the Northeastern Boundary question ; the Can- 
adian disturbances in 1838; the removal of the Cherokee Indians, and 
the threatened difficulties at Puget's Sound. United with these charac- 
teristics and with some qualities really noble, were conspicuous foibles. 
He was inordinately vain and egotistical, and, also, jealous in the ex- 
treme. He offensively meddled in the trifling affairs of others, such, 
even, as the pronunciation of a word, or the details of domestic life. He 
and I, on one occasion, were the only guests at the table of a gentleman 
of high social position in New York, and Gen. Scott did not hesitate to 
volunteer suggestions, necessarily followed, from considerations of polite- 
ness, as directions as to the method of obtaining, by the carving knife, 
the most delicate morsels of the principal dish, every part of which was 
"a feast for a king." But, if any one wishes to know the details of Gen, 
Scott's weaknesses, he will find them stated in the book of Gen. E. D. 
Keyes, entitled, "Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Events." His 
"hero,"' as he terms Gen. Scott, is but one of those, long since dead, of 
whom he speaks disparagingly. 

I think it well to add that Gen. Scott has been unjustly accused of 
advising, in regard to the seceding States, that the course to be pursued 
by the United States toward them should be expressed by the words : 
"Wayward sisters, depart in peace." Gen. Scott did not so advise. He 
merely pointed out to the Administration, in a semi-official letter, that it 
would be necessary to adopt one of but three courses, of which he briefly 
indicated one by the words quoted. What was his own choice was 
sufficiently shown while he remained in command of the army. 

My brother and I had made arrangements to go to West Point, be- 
fore we had heard of the serious illness of Gen. Scott, in order to make 
a visit to our nephew, who was then in his last year, and the Adjutant of 
the Corps. We were among the spectators of the funeral. Gen. Meade 
commanded the escort, and was mounted. Gen. Grant, on foot, was in 
the procession. The interment was in the Cemeter}^ at the Point. 



97 

My brother and I put up at the hotel near Buttermilk Falls, as they 
had always been called. Of late the name has not been agreeable to 
sensitive ears, and the falls are now known as Highland Falls. In my 
opinion the change is not an improvement. The former name well de- 
scribed the appearance of the falls when the stream was full, and was as 
much identified with West Point as was the name of Benny Havens. 
Further than this, if I am not mistaken, there are other falls known as 
Highland Falls in the vicinity. In the summer of i860, I went over the 
road between Garrison's and Cold Spring, and saw some beautiful falls, 
which, as I think I was told by our driver, bore the name of Highland 
Falls. Many of our people are becoming wonderfully sensitive of late, 
and are substituting high-sounding and far-fetched and inappropriate 
names for those which, if common-place, are often appropriate or histori- 
cal, and to which the old residents were attached. Thus; Holmes's 
Hole has become Vineyard Haven, and for Tubby Hook we have In- 
wood. If this sort of thing is to continue, what will become of Dobb's 
Ferry, a name full of historic associations.'* To some names have been 
affixed "on-the-Hudson,"' and, more recently, " on-the-Sound," when, in 
many cases, no other similar names existed, and in none, should the 
name of the State be used in addition to that of the place, was there the 
slightest chance of any confusion. But then, these additions "are Eng- 
lish, quite English, you know.'"i 



Note 26. My father would sometimes say, forgetting for the moment 
his own rank and position, that he would be perfectly content if he could 
be a Captain of Ordnance, immovably stationed at some arsenal of his 
own selection, with an appropriation to be expended according to his 
tastes. On some occasion, in the latter part of his life, I went with him 
to the rooms occupied as the Headquarters of the Ordnance Department 
at Washington, and some one of the young officers whom we met laugh- 
ingly said to my father that, if the wish still continued, he had no doubt 
that the action of almost any Captain of Ordnance could be secured in 
order to effect an exchange. 



Note 27. During a portion of the time my father was stationed at 
Allegheny Arsenal a company of the 2nd Art, was also stationed there. 
I do not know why the arsenal was garrisoned, and can only surmise 
that the reason was that, years before the Revolutionary War, Fort Pitt 
was considered an important military point ! 

7 



98 

Note 28. Captain Hallett was a native of Maine, I understand, but 
his home, in the latter part of his Hfe, was at the South. I have recently 
formed the acquaintance, in Newport, of a gentleman who had resided 
at Wilmington for some years before and since the Civil War. He told 
me that Capt. Hallett was a bright, and, in some respects, an intelligent 
man, but very illiterate as well as bkint in speech. In illustration of this 
he mentioned an occurrence which is worth telling. Soon after Capt. 
Hallett's arrival from one of his voyages he fell in with a Mr. Kidder, 
who was in trade in Wilmington, and said to him : " Mr. Kidder, I have 
some freight on my brig for you, and I wish you would send for it." 
" That can't be," said Mr. Kidder, " I have not ordered anything from 
New York." "I don't care for that," Capt. H. answered, "there is 
some freight for you on the brig, and I wish you would send for it; it is 
in my way." " Very well," said Mr, K., " I will go down during the day 
and take a look at it." Accordingly, he strolled to the brig, and asked 
Capt. H. to show him the articles, whereupon the Captain pointed to a 
number of barrels. "Why, Captain Hallett," he said, "those are not for 
me." " Certainly they are," Captain H. answered, "see how they are 
marked; if C-i-de-r don't spell Kidder what the devil do they spell ? " 



Note 29. Fort Johnson is situated on the right bank of the river, 
about two miles from its mouth. 



Note 30. Fort Caswell was undoubtedly named after Richard Cas- 
well, Governor of North Carolina, 1777-9 'irid 1784-7. 



Note 31. George Blaney. [Born in and appointed from Mass.] Cadet, 
July, '13; Bvt. 2nd Lt. Eng., March, '15; Sec. Lt., Oct., '16; Aid de C. to 
Brig. Gen. Swift, '17, '18; Fst. Lt., Nov., '18; Adj. Mil. Acad., March, 
'20, to March, '21, and Aug., '22, to May, '24; Capt., July, '24; Bvt. Maj., 
June, '34; Died at Smithville, May, '35; Interred at Wilmington. (After 
the death of Maj. B. his widow made Carlisle, Penna., her residence, 
which place was the residence of her mother, one or both of her sisters 
and her two brothers. It was on the suggestion of Mrs. Blaney that my 
father made Carlisle his family residence for some years. Maj. B. left a 
son and three daughters. The son died in early manhood. One daugh- 
ter married a lawyer of Carlisle; another is the wife of Bvt Maj. Gen, 
Washington L. Elliott, of the Army, retired, and the third is the wife of 



99 

Bvt. Lt. Col. William B. Lane, of the Army, retired. A daughter of 
Col. and Mrs. Lane is the wife of Fst. Lt. Joseph Garrard, 9th Cav., and 
another is the wife of Fst. Lt. John F. Guilfoyle of the same regiment.) 



Note 32. John De Earth Walbach. [Born m Germany, Ens. Royal 
Alsace Reg., in French service, belonging to Prince Maximilian, after- 
wards King of Bavaria, Dec, 1782; Sec. Lt. Lauzun Hussars, in French 
service, Jan., '86 ; Fst. Lt., May, '89 ; Capt. Rohan Hussars in German 
service. Oct., '93; Maj., Nov., '95.] Vol. Aid de C. to Brig. Gen. Mc- 
Pherson, '98; (appd. from Penna.); Fst. Lt. Cav. Jan'y, '99, and Adj.; 
Extra Aid de C. to Maj. Gen. Hamilton, May, '99; Ass't Adj. Gen. to 
Brig. Gen. North, Sept., '99, and on Staff of Maj. Gen. Pinckney; Fst. 
Lt. 2nd Art. and Engs., Feb., '01 ; Aid de C. to Brig. Gen. Wilkinson 
Oct., '01 ; Retained April, '02, Fst. Lt. Art.; Adj., Dec, '04; Capt, Jan.' 
'06; Ass't Dep. Om., March, '12; Ass't Adj. Gen. (rank of Maj.), June, 
'13; Adj. Gen. (rank of Col.), Aug., '13; Bvt. Maj. for gallant conduct 
at battle of Chrystler's Fields, Nov., '13; Bvt. Lt. Col., for merito- 
rious services. May, '15; Retained May, '15 m Art.; Maj. Art., April, 
'18; Bvt. Col. for ten years faithful service, June, '30, to date from May, 
'25; Bvt. Brig. Gen. for meritorious conduct. May, '50, to date from 
Nov. '23; Lt. Col. 1st Art., May, '32: Col. 4th Art., March, '42; Died 
June, '57, at Baltimore. 

(I never had the pleasure of seeing this gallant soldier and elegant 
gentleman of whom all spoke with affection and respect. My father ad- 
mired him greatly. He told me that Gen. Walbach's usual exclamation 
was : " By Jove ! By Jove ! ! " and gave me an illustration. On the occa- 
sion of the inspection of some troops made by him, Gen. Walbach hap- 
pened to be present, but merely as a spectator. When, after the other 
ceremonies of the review had been completed, the officers approached 
and saluted my father in the usual manner, he said to the group : ''Gen- 
tlemen, I propose that we all proceed to that gallant old soldier (indicat- 
ing Gen. W.) and pay our respects to him."' They willingly acceded 
to the proposition, proceeded to the place where Gen. W. was standing, 
and saluted him, and each offered a friendly hand. The old gentleman 
was visibly moved, his eye filled with tears, and he exclaimed : " By Jove ! 
By Jove ! ! ") 



Note 33. William McRee. [Born Dec, 1787 at Wilmington, N. C] 
Cadet, April, '03; Sec. Lt. Eng., July, '05; Fst. Lt., Oct., '06; Capt., 
Feb., '08; Maj., July, '12; Chief of Art. under Maj. Gen. Hampton, '13; 
Chief Eng. of Army under Maj. Gen, Brown, '14; Capture of Fort Erie, Julv 
3, '14; Battle of Chippewa, July 5. '14; Battle of Niagara, July 25, '14; 

L.ofC. 



lOO 



Defense of Fort Erie during its Bombardment, Aug. 13-15, '14; Assault 
upon it, Aug. 15, '14, and sortie from it, by which the siege was raised, 
Sept. 17, '14; Bvt. Lt. Col. for gallant conduct in Battle of Niagara; 
Bvt. Col. for services in defense of Fort Erie; on professional duty in 
Europe in examining fortifications and Military Schools, and the opera- 
tions of the Allied Armies in France. 'i5-'i6; Lt. Col., Nov., '18; Res'd 
March, '19; [Surveyor Gen. of the U. S. for Ills., Mo., and Ark. Ten, 
'25-'32; Died at St. Louis, Sept., '32.] (Fort McRee in Pensacola Har- 
bor was named after him.) 



Note 34. Those officers were: Capt. and Bvt. Maj. Reynold M. Kirby, 
of Mass., who died in service, Oct., '42, at Fort Sullivan, Maine; Capt. 
and Bvt. Maj. Churchill, and Fst. Lt. Matthew A. Patrick, who died in 
service, March, '34, at Williamsport, Md., of Vermont; Fst. Lt, Daniel 
D. Tompkins, who died in service, Feb'y, '63, in Brooklyn, N. Y., of N. 
Y. ; Sec. Lt. Richard C. Tilgham, resigned March, '36, and died March, 
'78, in Queen Anne Co., Md., of Md.; Fst. Lt. George W. Corprew, 
resigned June, '33, and died in '40, near Columbus, Miss., and Sec. Lt. 
Isaac R. Trimble, resigned May, '32, and still living, of Va. The last 
named was appointed from Kentucky. He graduated in '22, and is one 
of the oldest living graduates of the Military Academy. He was in the 
Confederate service, and, as I am informed, was wounded at Gettys- 
burgh. I read in the papers that he attended the annual meeting of the 
graduates at West Point in 1877. 



Note 35. On the 3rd of May, 1831, my mother wrote a letter to her 
sister, the wife of Hon. A. Aikens, of Windsor, Vermont, an extract or 
two from which may be interesting. Lt. Patrick, mentioned in the let- 
ter, was a native of Windsor. He had been stationed at Allegheny 
Arsenal during a part of the time my father was in command, and, as I 
always understood, was very genial and companionable in disposition. 
After disposing of various family and Windsor topics, my mother wrote 
concerning the negro alarm, and then concerning the arrival of the 
troops, and their presence in Wilmington : "When the vessel arrived 
the officers came ashore and we were truly rejoiced to see, in the com- 
mandant of one of the companies, our old friend, Mr. Patrick. We 
found amongst them two other acquaintances, and you will not wonder 
I was ready to cry for joy when I tell you they were the first and only 
familiar faces I have seen since I left you." [After explaining why the 
family did not accompany my father to Wilmington she proceeds:] 
" So, I have been alone except occasional visits of a day or two from 



lOI 



Syl. since before Christmas. Some of the gentlemen often came with 
him, and Mr. P. and I have talked Windsor over largely. The Wilming- 
tonians are our nearest neighbors * * * and many of them pass their 
summers here; yet I have resisted all invitations and temptations to visit 
them, till, sometime in March, there was a grand Military Ball given " [by 
the officers in acknowledgment of the civilities of the Wilmingtonians], 
" and, as my husband was interested in the affair, it was considered indis- 
pensable that I should go. Only think of me, going thirty miles to a ball 
and leaving four children ! ! But I did it, went up with the ladies and gen- 
tlemen of our garrison in the steamboat in the morning, attended the ball 
(a splendid one) in the evening, received calls from more than thirty 
ladies and sundry gentlemen next day, the next returned them all, the 
4th returned to my children, found all well — that's what I call doing 
business." 

Possibly some of the present generation will be surprised to learn 
that the postage on this letter was 25 cents. Owing, in part, to the 
rates of postage existing at that time, letters were but few compared 
with the number written at present by an equal population, and the 
writing and the receipt of a letter, especially if it came from a distance, 
one hundred miles or over ! were events of importance. I think that 
letter writing was considered more of an accomplishment then and, 
therefore, more cultivated as one, than it is at present. This letter, now 
before me, covers over three pages of foolscap paper, and is written on 
close, unruled lines. As each separate piece of paper, however small, 
was subject to the full postal charge, large sheets, rarely smaller than 
letter paper, were used, and were so folded that the address, the amount 
of postage and the postmark were written and stamped upon the ex- 
posed portion of one page. Envelopes, as they were subject to full 
charges, were rarely used in private correspondence. One advantage of 
that system was that the letter and postmark were inseparable. 



Note 36. While we were in Washington my father and mother and 
all of their children went to the White House and were presented to 
President Jackson. 

We were presented by Rev. Obadiah Brown, a Baptist Clergyman, and 
a staunch personal and political friend of the President. He was then the 
Pastor of a church in Washington, and had been a resident of the city for 
many years. I have recently read, in the Magazine of American His- 
tory, that, when the British troops under Gen. Ross captured the City of 
Washington in August, 1814, Rev. O. Brown induced the Commander 
to spare the building which contained the models and other collections 
of the Patent Office, on the ground that they related to industr\' and 



I02 



science. The records, unfortunately, were in the Post Office building, 
which was burnt by the enemy, in 1835, Rev. O. Brown had recently 
incurred some disfavor with the members of various religious denomina- 
tions for the reason that he was the author of a report recommending 
the Sunday Mail Service, and which report the Administration adopted. 
He and his wife were at Smithville, when my father was in command of 
Fort Johnson, on a visit to the Ass't Surgeon, then stationed there, who 
was a relative of Mrs. Brown. During our stay in Washington I at- 
tended, on Sunday evening, the services in the church of which the Rev. 
O. Brown was the pastor, and for the first, and, possibly, the only time, 
saw and heard a Precentor. He sat, and, when singing, stood, in an 
enclosed space below the pulpit, which, as was the style, was well aloft. 

I remember that, boy though I was, I looked forward to being pre- 
sented to Gen. Jackson with much curiosity. The anti-Jackson party of 
the time so uniformly represented him as being profane, rude and violent, 
that I expected to see in him the embodiment of all those and like char- 
acteristics, and therefore I was more than surprised when I was pre- 
sented to an elegant elderly gentleman, slender, and, apparently, rather 
feeble, with a mild voice and very soft and delicate hands. It was 
amusing to hear, in subsequent years, during the latter part of Bu- 
chanan's administration, people regret that Jackson was not President, 
he who, when President, had been represented as almost a disgrace to 
the country. Few persons knew then, or ever knew that Gen. Jackson 
had had much experience in civil life. 

On this occasion we children were amused on seeing, placed upon a 
piece of furniture, which stood in the corner of the room, what appeared 
to be a section of a tree, from which the bark had not been removed, 
having on its side, in gilt letters, the words : Old Hickory. Possibly it 
was an enormous snuff-box, and was a present to the "Old Hero." 



Note 37. While my father was at Fort Johnson he completed the 
purchase of about 600 acres of land in the Town of Crown Point, Essex 
County, New York, and much of the conversation in the family was in 
reference to his project, or, rather, waking dream, of becoming a farmer. 
The purchase included the whole of the peninsula, if it may be so called, 
extending in a northerly direction into Lake Champlain and lying be- 
tween Bulwagga Bay on the west side and the main body of the lake on 
the east. On the northern end, the point jutting into the lake, were the 
ruins of the French Fort, a small work constructed while the French 
had command of the Lake, and, at a short distance, were the ruins of the 
English Fort, a much larger and more substantial and scientifically ar- 
ranged work, constructed by the English after the command of the Lake 



10' 



passed into their hands. Near this fort was what was known as " The 
King's Garden," and there, in 1835, I saw evidences of former cultiva- 
tion and traces of paths and garden plats, but who were the last cultiva- 
tors was not known; at least, it did not occur to me, at that time of my 
life, to inquire. The Forts, at Crown Point, were not the scene of any 
important conflicts during the Old French Wars or subsequently. The 
position was much superior for defensive operations to that at Ticon- 
deroga. Both were commanded by heights in the vicinity, but those 
near Crown Point were much more distant than those near Ticonderoga. 
It will be remembered that, in 1778, a portion of the British troops under 
Gen. Burgoyne, dragged cannon to the summit of Mount Defiance and 
compelled the Americans, under Gen. St. Clair, to evacuate the fort at 
Ticonderoga. The English erected substantial and well constructed 
stone barracks in the fort at Crown Point. In 1835 my father ascertained 
that the residents of the farm houses in the vicinity had made a mere 
stone-quarry of those buildings. He put a stop to this at once, placed a 
roof on one of the buildings, the walls of which were still in good condi- 
tion, and, as I understand, there has been no further destruction. In 
1839 he sold all of the property which he had purchased except so much 
as was " contained within the outer verge of the ditch which surrounds 
the English Fort (so-called) * * * containing, by estimation, eleven 
and a half acres of land." Of this he made a lease forever for a nominal 
rent, with the provision that, if the United States or the State of New 
York should wish to purchase the premises for military purposes, he 
should have the right to sell the premises to either on paying to those 
who purchased from him a sum stated and the value of any permanent 
improvements made by them on the barracks. The lease also provided 
against waste on pain of forfeiture. 



Note 38. My father owned some horses in Essex County, purchased 
a carriage, and, taking the reins into his own hands, drove all the way 
from Lake Champlain to Eastport in Maine, a sea voyage from Portland 
to Bangor excepted. The route was as follows: Lake Champlain was 
crossed at Westport to Winan's Harbor, thence to Vergennes, WiUis- 
ton, Waterbury, Stowe, Montpelier, Woodstock and Windsor, Vermont. 
At Windsor the Connecticut River was crossed to Cornish, and thence 
the route was to Hanover, Lyme, Centre Harbour, and by the north shore 
of Winnipiseogee Lake and by other villages in New Hampshire and 
Maine to Portland. The country between Bangor and Eastport, Maine, 
had but a small population outside of the villages, and was \-ery uninter- 
esting. The forests had been largely leveled by the ax or destroyed by 
fire, and for miles little was to be seen but the charred remains of trees 



I04 

still standing, and a scanty second growth, and acre after acre of red 
raspberry bushes, loaded with berries then in their prime. 

To the whole party the journey was very interesting. Countr}- inns 
and taverns were numerous and well kept. My parents renewed the 
old associations of rural New England, and, in Vermont, met many of 
their former friends and acquaintances. To the younger members of the 
family, whose experiences had been in Army life and in southern society, 
and who had not been travelers since early childhood, almost ever}' expe- 
rience was novel, and there was much which served to interest, amuse, 
and instruct them. They had never before seen a group of school chil- 
dren arrange themselves on the side of the road, and salute the passing 
travelers, the boys by removing their caps, and the girls by "dropping 
courtesies." 1 wonder if this custom continues. But, if it does, the rail- 
way travelers of to day see nothing of it ; and, indeed, they see very little 
of country life and customs. As may readily be supposed, we children 
were regarded with curiosity and attracted some attention. North Caro- 
lina was very distant in those days. I remember that a relative in 
Stowe, a boy some years younger than I, showed off my younger brother 
and me, as having come from North Carolina, quite boastingly to an- 
other boy, as if to say : "You have no such relatives in your family." 
There, for the first time, in response to our narratives, I heard the ex- 
pressions : "Dew tell," "I want to know," and the like. No doubt 
some of our language and our pronunciation sounded strangely to the 
residents of Stowe. So, the softened expletives, which we heard in vari- 
ous parts of the country, such as " By gosh," " I swow," " I swan," " I 
vow," and, as we heard, to our immense amusement, when uttered by a 
middle-aged woman, who had charge of a toll-gate, " I vum," seemed 
very odd. The contrast between such words and those which we had 
heard from the lips of soldiers, who never watered their methods of ex- 
pressing themselves, or anything else, was marked. 

Since that time I have traveled in every one of the New England 
States; in Maine to but a limited extent; in all the rest more frequently 
and extensively. Excluding Maine, of which I am not able to judge, I 
think that Vermont is far the most attractive of those States, in scenery, 
soil, streams, forests and other features of nature. 



Note 39. See Article Cherokee Case in the Cyclopaedia of Political 
Science. 



Note 40. Andrew Jackson. [Born March, 1767, in S. C] [In U. S. 
House of Representatives from Tennessee, '96, '97. In U. S. Senate, 



I05 

'97, 'qS ] ^laj. Gen. Ten. Mila. in U. S. Service, Sept., '12; Command- 
ing in battle of Talladega, on the Coosa River, Ala., with the Creek In- 
dians, Nov., '13; also in battles on the Emuckfau, &c., Ala., Jan., '14; 
and in the battle of the Horse Shoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River, Ala., 
March, '14; Brig. Gen., with Bvt. of Maj. Gen., April, '14; Maj. Gen., 
May, '14; Commanding in defense of New Orleans in battles of Dec, 
'14, and Jan., '15: Rec'd thanks of Congress with presentation of a gold 
medal, Feb., '15; retained April, '15, in command of* the Division of the 
South; res'd March, '21. [Governor of Florida Ter., March, '21 ; in 
U. S. Senate, '23 to '25; Judge of Supreme Court of Ten., '25; Presi- 
dent OF THE United States, March 4th, '29, to March 4th, '35 ; 
Died at the Hermitage, near Nashville, June, '45.] (The Creek nation 
was completely crushed, as a military power, in the battles mentioned. 
The number engaged on each side was probably far greater than in any 
other battle between the whites and the Indians.) 



Note 41. John Floyd. [Born 1769 in S. C] Brig. Gen. Geo. Mil. in 
U. S. Service, Aug., '13, to March, '14; Commanding in battle with the 
Creek Indians at Autossee, Ala., Nov., '13, in which severely wounded; 
Commanding in battle with the same at Camp Defiance, Ala., Jan., '14; 
Commanded Brigade Geo. Vols., Oct., '14. [In U. S. House of Rep's, 
'27 to '29; died June, '39, in Camden Co., Geo.] 



Note 42. Fort Kent and Fort Fairfield were, no doubt, named after 
Governors of the State of Maine. 



Note 43. My mother had many amusing narratives to relate of their 
experience in those regions, then quite remote. She told me that, on 
one occasion, she and my father attended a picnic near one of the coun- 
try inns at which they spent some time, and, naturally, were the honored 
guests. She said that, when the party started to return, the keeper of 
the inn, who was in his shirt sleeves, olTered her his arm, which she ac- 
cepted, and she added that he carried a rifle on his shoulder, and on the 
way home killed three squirrels. I asked : " Well, mother, what did 
you do while this was going on ? " She answered, with a hearty laugh, 
" Oh, I waited till he had re-loaded his rifle and then resumed his arm and 
walked on." 



ic6 

Note 44.. William T. Sherman. [Born in and appointed from Ohio.] 
Cadet, July, '36; Sec. Lt. 3rd Art., July, '40; Fst. Lt., Nov., '41; Act- 
ing Ass't Adj. Gen. Dep't of Cal'a, May, '47, to Feb'y, '49; Bvt. Capt. 
for meritorious services, May, '48; Aid de C. to Maj. Gen. Persifor F. 
Smith and Acting Ass't Adj. Gen. Pacific Division, Feb., '49, to Jan., '50; 
Capt. Com. Sub., Sept., '50; res'd Sept., '53 : [Banker, San Francisco, '55 
to '57, and at New York, '57; Maj. Gen. Cal'a Mila. '56; Superintendent 
Louisiana State Seminary and Mil. Acad'y, '59 to '61] •, Col. 13th Inf , May, 
'61 ; Brig. Gen. Vol's, May, '61 ; Maj. Gen. Vol's, May, '62, to Aug., '64; 
Brig. Gen., July, '63; Maj. Gen,, Aug., '64; Rec'd Thanks of Congress, 
Feb., '64 and Jan'y, '65; Lt. Gen., July, '66; Gen., March, '69; Re- 
tired, Feb'y, '84. (It is not to be expected that I would attempt to state 
the outlines, even, of Gen. Sherman's services.) 



Note 45. Richard P. Hammond. [Born in and app'd from Md.] 
Cadet, July, '37; Bvt. Sec. Lt. 4th Art., July, '41; In 3rd Art., Sept., 
'41; Fst. Lt., May, '46; Adj., Oct., '48; Aid de C. and Acting Ass't 
Adj. Gen. to Brig. Gen. Shields, '47, '48; Bvt. Capt. for gal. cond. in 
Battle of Cerro Gordo, April, '47 ; Bvt. Maj. for gal. cond. in Battles of 
Contreras and Churubusco, Aug. 19, 20, '47 ; Distinguished in Battle of 
Chapultepec, Sept. 13, '47; Res'd, May, '51. [From the time of his re- 
signation he has been a resident of California, and now resides at San 
Francisco. He was a lawyer in Stockton in '5i-'2; Speaker of H. of 
Rep. of Cal'a, '52; Col. of Customs in San Francisco in '53-5, and has 
held several civic positions.] 

(My father had a great liking for Lt. Hammond, and twice, at least, 
requested that he be detailed to duty with him. On the last occasion, 
my mother, in expressing, in a letter to me, her gratification that the 
detail had been made, wrote : "He understands your father and your 
father understands him." The last detail was in the summer of 1846, 
and on completion of the duties involved, my father wrote to Lt. Ham- 
mond, as follows : 

"Ins. Gen.'s Dep't, St. Louis, July 19, 1846. 
To Lieut. R. P. Hammond, 3d Art., 

Sir : The duties of mustering volunteers in several of the Western 
States, as directed in the instructions from Gen. H'd Qrs. of the 28th of 
May last to me, being completed, you are relieved from duty as my As- 
sistant on that service, and, in compliance with the aforesaid instruc- 
tions, you will proceed to join your company. 

Wishing you all the happiness of earth and heaven, and sincerely 
thanking you for your attention to duty, and your ever ready and kind 



I07 

assistance in a term of nearly three years, I am, Sir, your ob't servt. and 
friend, 

S. CHURCHILL, Ins. Gen.") 



Note 46. Thomas Sidney Jesup. [Born in Va., 1788; app'd from 
Ohio.] Sec. Lt. 7th Inf., May, '08; Fst. Lt., Dec, '09; Brig. Maj. and 
Acting Adj. Gen. to Brig. Gen. Hull. '12; Capt., Jan., '13; Maj. 19th 
Inf., April, '13; Trans'd to 25th Inf., '14; Bvt. Lt. Col. for services in 
the Battle of Chippewa, July 5th, '14; Bvt. Col. for services in the Battle 
of Niagara, in which he was severely wounded, July 25th, '14; Retained 
May, '15, in ist Inf.; Lt. Col. 3rd Inf., April, '17; Adj. Gen. (rank of 
Col), March, '18; Quar. Mas. Gen. (rank of Brig. Gen.), May, '18; Bvt. 
Maj. Gen. for ten years' faithful service. May, '28; In command of the 
Army in the Creek Nation, Ala., May, "36; In command of the Army in 
Florida, Dec, '36; Wounded in action near Juniper Inlet, Jan., '38; Re- 
turned to his Dep't, May, '38 ; Died in the City of Washington, June, 
'60. (The Artillery Companies, then stationed at Fort Monroe, went to 
Washington to act as the Funeral Escort, or a part of it. My brother 
went with the troops from Fort Monroe.) 



Note 47. Zachary Taylor. [Born in Va., Nov., 1784; son of Col. 
Richard Taylor, of the Rev. Army; app'd from Ken.] Fst. Lt. 7th Inf., 
May, '08 ; Capt. Nov., '10; Bvt. Maj. for gallant conduct in defense of Fort 
Harrison, Sept., '12; Maj. 26th Inf., May, '14; Commanding in affair 
with British and Indians at mouth of Rock River, Aug., '14; Retained 
as Capt. 7th Inf. with his brevet. May, '15 — declined; Retained as Maj. 
3rd Inf., May, '16; Lt. Col. 8th Inf., April, '19; In 1st Inf., May, '21; 
Col. 1st Inf., '32; Com. a Brigade under Brig. Gen. Atkinson in Battle 
of Bad Axe, Aug., '32; Transferred to 6th Inf., July, '33; Bvt. Brig. 
Gen. for services in Battle of Okeechobee, Dec, '37 ; In command of the 
Army in Florida, May, '38; In command of the "Army of Occupation " 
in Texas, July, '45; Bvt. Maj. Gen. for conduct in Battles of Palo Alto 
and Resaca de la Palma, May 8th and 9th, '46; Maj. Gen. June, '46 ; 
Rec'd Thanks of Congress, July i6th. '46. with the presentation of a 
gold medal; In command in the victory of Monterey, Sept. 23rd, '46; 
Rec'd Thanks of Congress, March 2nd, '47, with the presentation of a 
gold medal, for victory at Monterey ; In command in the Battle of 
Buena Vista, Feb. 22 and 23, '47 ; Rec'd Thanks of Congress, May 9th, 
'48, with the presentation of a gold medal for victory at Buena Vista; 
Res'd Jan., '49. [President of the United States from March 
4th, 1849; Died in office at Washington, July 9th, 1850.] 



io8 



Note 48. On or about this date my father commenced a journal, ex- 
tracts from which appear in the sketch, and continued it, with, apparently, 
occasional breaks, during the rest of his life. It was kept in a number of 
small-sized and liglitly bound blank books, which I found, with a large 
amount of manuscripts of the drafts of his official letters and reports, 
among his effects after his death. It is highly probable that some of the 
books, containing portions of the journal, were lost or mislaid. There 
was no reason why at any time he should have suspended making such 
entries. I am not aware that any one ever heard of this journal. Its 
existence was not known to me. It is probable that it was written in 
order to employ the hours of his solitary journeying, or the more solitary 
hours of his waiting, at remote points, for orders or for means of convey- 
ance, and without a thought that it would be read by any one. At times 
it enters into details. At other times it merely notes the number of miles of 
travel, the names of the places left or reached, and the means of convey- 
ance. It is, I think, very interesting, illustrating, as it does, the local cus- 
toms and methods of travel of the day, as well as containing narratives 
of unusual personal experiences. I may mention here, that I saw, at one 
time, a journal kept by him during the march of the Army commanded 
by Gen. Izard, from Lake Champlain to the Niagara Frontier, in 18 14. 
My father's responsibilities on that march were important for the rea- 
son that it was his duty, as an officer of the Stafif, to ride in advance of 
the Army, at the close of each day, select the place of encampment, and 
lay out the camp. This journal has been lost. 



Note 49. Mr. Ruggles was a native of Rhode Island, as I under- 
stood, had been at sea in early life, and had visited many of the islands 
in the Pacific Ocean when their inhabitants had not changed materially 
from their primitive condition. By means of one of those strange events 
or accidents which occur in the lives of wanderers, he came to Smith- 
ville, or its vicinity, and married. He kept a small " store" near the 
fort, and my father and he were great friends, and spent hours in play- 
ing backgammon. As Mr. R. was quite deaf he was always ready for 
backgammon during the day, and whist in the evening. He was a kind- 
hearted and unassuming man, and noted for his integrity, the simplicity 
of his character, and the directness of his language. 



Note 50. It may be well to state that they desired to rescue the 
prisoners, not for the benefit of the latter, but for the purpose of settling 
old scores with them, to whatever length, in order to accomplish this, it 
might be deemed necessary by them to go. No doubt they believed that 
"the best Indian is a dead Indian." 



I09 

Note 51. The following entry in the journal is written out of the 
order of dates : 

Oct. 2, 1836. In the march from Fort Mitchell to Cloud's Ferry- 
to-day, I passed the late residence of Capt. Winship (or Winslet — have 
forgotten which is the nanie — ) who, with Maj. Rogers, a half-blood 
Cherokee chief, spent several days at Smithville, most of the daytime at 
my quarters, in 1833. They came there in company with Maj. Smith 
[Paymasterj U. S. A. We saw him and his family in Norfolk, where he 
resided, in 1835, on our way north. He visited Smithville several times 
in order to pay the troops, and was always a guest of my parents] from 
Norfolk. After my arrival at Fort Brooke [Tampa Bay], in Oct., I 
learned that Winship had been at that place the winter and spring before 
in the public service, and had died there in May. He was a white man, 
but brought up and had lived all his life near to and among Indians, — 
possessing a strong body, constitution and mt'nd, but without learning, 
with a very retentive memory. In 1835 Maj. Smith informed me that, 
a year or more after the visit at Smithville, he was traveling in the in- 
terior of Florida, and arrived late one dark night at a hut where he saw 
Capt. W. standing in the light of a bright light-wood fire, and, as he saw 
him, called out from the carriage or wagon : '• How do you do, Capt. 
Winship .'' " The latter replied immediately, knowing who it was, who had 
spoken to him, by the voice: *• Very well. How do you do, Maj. Smith } 
How did you leave Maj. Churchill?" When Major Smith told me this, 
I supposed the part relating to me was an embellishment of his own ; 
but, in the spring of 1837, Maj. Graham, with whom I had just become 
acquainted, related the circumstance in nearly the same words. 



Note 52. On the 30th of Oct., 1836, Col. Henderson, of the Marine 
Corps, was in command of the Post at Tampa Bay, but my father, hav- 
ing been a Major for but about a year and a half, was in command of all 
the Army troops, which consisted of 15 companies, one of the ist Art., 
four of the 2d, four of the 3rd, three of the 4th, two of the 4th Inf., and 
one Washington volunteers. This tact shows that but a portion of the 
Field Officers of the Army, at that time, were capable of performing 
campaign duty, and prov^es that there should always have been a '' Re- 
tired List." Such was the case, also, during the Mexican war. Capt. 
and Bvt. Col. Justin Dimick, ist Art., told me that, at one time, he was 
in command of his regiment in Mexico, and this fact is stated in Gard- 
ner's Army Dictionary. Yet. he was not a Major till April, 1850. In 
February and March, 1846, my father inspected the "Army of Occupa- 
tion" commanded by Gen. Taylor at Corpus Christi, Texas. The draft 
of his report, which I have before me, states that eleven companies of 



I lO 



Artillery, serving as Infantry, formed a part of the ist Brigade under 
Gen. Worth, and were commanded by Capt. and Bvt. Lt. Col. Childs of 
the 3rd Art. The report further states that the Major of Artillery^ who 
had been assigned to the command of a battalion of four companies of 
Light Artillery, was not able to ride on horseback " at review, drill or 
march, in consequence of varicose veins in his legs, and the parade was 
commanded by Maj. Ringgold [Bvt. Maj. and mortally wounded at Palo 
Alto], physically and by practice well qualified for field service." It is 
merely to be added that, when such of those junior ofificers as survived 
the war, returned to the duties of peace, they fell back to their grades, 
and were commanded by old or enfeebled men, gallant old soldiers, who 
had ably served their countr}% but who should have been in honorable 
retirement with a generous governmental support. 

As bearing upon the same subject, I think it well to make an extract 
from a report submitted in the latter part of 1849, and entitled "General 
Remarks," as follows: "Serious obstructions to proficiency are found 
* * * in the broken or scattered condition of the Infantry [he in- 
spected one regiment of Infantry which occupied tmie posts], which pre- 
cludes a knowledge of the evolutions of the line, and, in many instances, 
those of the battalion, both essentially necessary to efficiency in that arm. 
There are now in service, and will be whenever the troops are required 
to take the field, as at the commencement of the late war with Mexico, 
many ofificers who are not capable ot performing those manoeuvres, and 
some will not learn them by either study or practice unlessy^rr^^to it. 
Much improvement might be made by study and recitation two or three 
evenings in a week, during the winter months by all the officers and men 
of each post, including, always, the commanding officer, whatever may 
be his rank." 



Note 53. The Indians owned horses or ponies, cattle, swine, and 
negro slaves. It was by constant scouting and scouring the country, and 
thus, when warriors could not be found, by capturing the live stock and 
slaves of the Indians, their squaws and children, and preventing them 
from raising crops and accumulating supplies of provisions, that the 
Indians were crippled and finally subdued. 



Note 54. I make, here, several extracts from the journal, or references 
to its contents: 

In February, 1837, Gen. Jesup, while in the interior, received mes- 
sages from some of the chiefs to the effect that they wished to have a 
"talk" with him with a view to a capitulation. Arrangements were 



ill 



made, and, accordingly, on the 6th of March, the chiefs came to Fort 
Dade and the negotiations commenced. My father, in his journal, gives 
the names of five of the chiefs, and he mentions the fact that the royal 
descent is by the female line. He also states that Abram, a free negro, 
who. like all the '' Indian negroes," spoke Enghsh, was always present at 
the Councils, and frequently interpreted what was said, but seemed, 
publicly, to have no voice or influence. In point of fact, however, though 
not a chief, he had much influence. 

(An Indian Funeral and an Indian Beauty). " March 8. To-day, 
the son of John Ho-pon-ney, a youth of much promise for an Indian, who 
died last evening, was buried. John is a Captain of a company in the 
Creek regiment, a Chief, in whom, for fidelity and judgment, the general 
confides more than in any other. He resided many years ago in Florida, 
was at first hostile, but submitted to Gen. Jackson, and, when he went, 
some years since, for what cause I do not know, to the Creek Nation, he 
left many relatives here, among whom is one of his daughters, apparently 
about 20 years old, who arrived this morning from among the Seminoles, 
and just in time to see the dead body of her brother and attend his 
funeral. She is dressed in a calico frock of unusual length, with a border 
or flounce at or near the bottom, her breast covered with silver plates of 
various sizes, like scales, nine ornaments hanging pendant from her ears : 
a broad band of silver, about four inches, on each wrist, and a ring on 
each finger with an oval centre-plate from one inch, the smallest, to one 
and a half inches, the largest, long, all of plain silver; and b.arefooted 
and bareheaded, without any hair ornaments, and no beads. Appears 
solemn, but little grieved. John walks to the grave barefooted and bare- 
legged with a black silk handkerchief laid or spread over his head, the 
corners falling on his shoulders (he generally wears a black beaver hat) 
looking sedate and afflicted, but no tears are seen. The dead boy was 
supplied with a haversack of provisions, &c., laid on the coffin in the 
grave for his use, and a volley of musketry- fired over the grave for the 
use of ' whom it may concern.' The general and Staff and many other 
officers and soldiers joined in the funeral procession ; a company performed 
the honors. The boy was much attached to his father, and, on a march 
or anywhere in company, was invariably seen riding next behind him. 
About two hours after the funeral I called on a visit of condolence, found 
John in his tent very solemn — and the lass, who is rather small and 
pretty, and married, they say, with her hands, fingers, RINGS, and all, in 
the kettle stirring sofka." (What is, or was, Sofka ? F. H. C.) 

'' March 20th. The moon, for three nights past, has been vertical, or 
directly overhead, at her southing, casting no length of shadow from a 
rod or straight stick, suspended by a thread ! I ! (It was, therefore, from 
this parallel of latitude, and possibly, from this spot, that Jules Verne's 
travelers started some years afterwards on their expedition to the moon. 
F. H. C). 



112 



Note 55, The following is from the journal, but much condensed: 
On the 1 8th of March Micanopy, Head Chief of the Indians, ratified, 
at Fort Dade, the agreement for capitulation and emigration already 
made by some of the Sub-chiefs, and afterwards he and many of the 
Sub-chiefs and Indians proceeded to Tampa Bay, and went into camp 
about eight miles from Fort Brooke. It was hoped and believed that 
the "war" was at an end, that the rest of the Indians would come in, 
and that all would be removed from Florida by the transports which had 
already been engaged. About the ist of June, Gen. Jesup was apprised 
of a design on the part of some Indians from the interior to approach the 
camp of Micanopy, and force him and all those enrolled for emigration 
back to " The Nation," but he did not deem it prudefit to guard Micanopy 
and his camp openly, as it would disclose to him that there was appre- 
hension of soine danger, which, it was hoped, was not real, and would 
produce the worst of consequences if he and his people w^ere then acting 
in good faith. 

The result proved that there was ground for apprehension of danger. 
A party of Indians came to Micanopy's camp, and, as was alleged, 
forced him, Jumper, Cloud, and all their people off to the interior, 
and it became necessary to renew the wearisome, thankless, and, gener- 
ally, fruitless task of hunting for and harassing the Indians, and this 
at a time when a part of the cool season had been lost, and the heat 
of summer had commenced. Micanopy sent friendly messages, after he 
had been " forced off," but I think that it is not to be doubted that Gen. 
Jesup greatly erred, and that he should have made every Indian under- 
stand that, if he should "come in " after a "talk," resulting in terms of 
capitulation and emigration, he would come in "to stay" and as a 
prisoner. It was on account of this information received by Gen. Jesup, 
and in order to be prepared for any attack or disturbance, that my father 
loaded his pistols. 



Note 56. Mention is made in the journal that Judge Crane's house 
was in the old Spanish fort, in which the Englishman, Arbuthnot, was 
found and taken by Gen. Jackson in May, 181 8, and where he and Robert 
C. Ambrister were tried, executed (Arbuthnot hung and Ambrister shot) 
and buried. 

I add a few lines. Florida, in 1818, w\as a colony or dependency of 
Spain. Arbuthnot and Ambrister were British subjects, the former, to be 
accurate, being a Scotchman, and the latter a native of the Bahamas. 
Gen. Jackson, who, in these proceedings as in others, "took the responsi- 
bility," ordered that the two be tried by a Court Martial, by which they 
were found guilty of having incited the Indians to warfare, and of having 
supplied them with arms and ammunition, and sentenced to death. 



113 

There had been a number of engagements, on a small scale, in Georgia, 
between the Florida Indians (Seminoles and Micosukees) and the U. S. 
Troops, and Gen. Jackson, who was then in command of the Division of 
the South, in order to crush the Indians in their homes, in^^aded Florida. 
He did not confer with the Administration, that of Mr. Monroe, as to the 
propriety of carrying the sentence of the Court Martial into effect, and 
yet it was thought that there was no such necessity for immediate action 
as to justify him in failing to ask for instructions. These proceedings on 
his part, and his subsequent capture of Pensacola, made a great sensa- 
tion, and irritated England and Spain. At home. Gen. Jackson was 
assailed and censured fiercely by a portion of the press, by men in pub- 
lic life and in Congress. J. Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, sus- 
tained him in the Cabinet, which was divided. See article on Andrew 
Jackson in Appleton's Encyclopcedia. 



Note 57. Sept. 17th, 1837. Met with another accident by the up- 
setting of a two-horse stage in the northern part of Georgia. 



Note 58. On or about the loth of Oct., '37, at Augusta, Georgia, 
MaJ. C, having completed his work in Georgia, and, after having taken 
his seat in the stage for Savannah, on his way to Florida, received an 
order from Gen. Jesup to proceed to Jackson Co., Ala , in the N. E. of 
that State, to muster into service a regiment of volunteers and accom- 
pany it to Black Creek, Florida. There is a break in the journal from 
Oct. loth, till Nov. 24th, when it was resumed at Tallahassee, Florida, 
which place the regiment had reached. It arrived at Black Creek on 
the 4th of Dec, and the journal notes the travel to that point from Au- 
gusta as having been 130 miles by stage and 906 on horseback. 



Note 59. In Dec, '37, Maj. C. had an attack of chills and fever, 
and, as of the 25th, being then at Newnansville, made this entry : ' ' My 
visitor calls again before breakfast, and, while others are merry around 
me, I am shaken severely both by the ague and the jarring vibration 
given to the frail tenement (the house which must have been nearly 
made ivithoiit hands) in which I stay^ by the dancing or jumping of the 
rude company assembled for the ' compliments of the season ' in a dance 
which lasted from sunset till sunrise after— and the thumping on the 
loose floor by the heel of the negro fiddler in beating or pounding time." 
My father wrote in his journal about this time, that his cart was driven by 
a man named Burke. Burke was a private in Co. A, 3rd Art., com- 
manded by Capt. (aftenvards Bvt. Brig.) Childs, at Fort Sullivan, East- 
port, Maine, in 1835-6. He was not in the service in Dec, '37, but re- 



114 

enlisted and died at the Soldiers' Home near Washington. He called 
upon me in New York on his way to the Home, and afterwards called 
upon my father in Washington. 



Note 6o. While Maj. C. was in the discharge of this duty, he re- 
ceived a letter as follows : 

" Philipsburg, Mississqui Bay, 
28th June, 1838. 
Sir: 

Understanding that you arrived at Swanton yesterday in command 
of a detachment of United States troops, I take the opportunity offered 
by that information, of placing myself in communication with you, and 
of expressing my readiness to unite with you in the preservation of tran- 
quility on this part of our frontier and of the neutrality due to each other 
from the subjects of two nations whose governments are at perfect 
peace. 

I deem it right to state to you that the subjects of Her Majesty, the 
Queen of England, on this side of the Province Line, are most quietly 
and peaceably disposed, and that nothing is farther from their thoughts 
than to disturb and meddle with the affairs of their opposite neighbors ; 
but in the event of any untoward act on the part of the refugees from 
Canada, and their aiders and abettors in Swanton and its neighborhood, 
an incursion should be made, as a military man, you must be sensible 
how difficult, if not impossible, it would be to check men justly exasper- 
ated at a wanton attack on their homes and families, in pursuit of the 
success which would undoubtedly attend their efforts to repel such an at- 
tempt so immediately in the vicinity of the Province Line. 

I beg to introduce to you the bearer of this letter, Lieutenant Taylor 
of the Mississqui Volunteers, who will furnish you with any information 
which he possesses and you may desire, respecting this part of our frontier; 
— and in the hope that we may soon witness a check to the feelings of 
antipathy which so unfortunately at this moment exists between the peo- 
ple in our immediate front, 

I have the honor to be. 
Sir, 

With respect and consideration, 
Your most obedient Servant, 

W. S. WILLIAMS, 

Major in Her Majesty's Service, and 

Com'd'g the Mississqui District. 
To Major Churchill, 

&c., &c., &c., 

Swanton." 



115 

The answer to the above was as follows : 

"Frontier of Vermont, 

Swanton, July 2, 1838. 
To Maj. W. S. Williams, 

in Her Majesty's Service, 

Com'd'g Mississqui District, Canada. 
Sir: 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, by Lieut. Taylor, of 
your letter of the 28th ult., on the day of its date. I thank you, Sir, for 
the prompt and friendly manner in which you have opened a communi- 
cation with me ; and I reciprocate your wish to be instrumental in pre- 
serving the tranquility of our respective borders, and shall cheerfully co- 
operate in such measures as are best calculated to promote and secure 
it. From no information which I have obtained should I infer that there 
is any preparation, or intention, on the part of the people of the Vermont 
frontier, to disturb the amicable relations now existing between our gov^- 
eruments, and which it is so desirable to maintain. They will, I pre- 
sume, equally with yourselves, be disposed to resist any invasion of their 
homes and rights, but I feel justified in saying that they will not be the 
aggressors. 

Allow me to introduce to you Lieut. Freeman, 4th Art., Army, the 
bearer of this communication. With it I enclose for your own informa- 
tion, some printed laws of Congress, and an order of Maj. Gen'l Macomb, 
commanding the Army. 

With great respect, I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient Servant, 

S. CHURCHILL, 

Maj. 3rd Art., 
Com'd'g Frontier of Vermont." 

It would have been delicate, to say the least, if Maj. Williams had 
limited himself to expressing his readiness to unite with Maj. Churchill 
in the preservation of neutrality, and to introducing Lieut. Taylor, and 
had refrained from informing Maj. C, " as a military man," or otherwise, 
what might be the consequences of an attack upon the homes and fam- 
ihes of persons residing north of the line. But the tendenng of such in- 
formation was characteristic, and might have been expected, at that 
time, from a "Major in Her Majesty's Service." The memory of Wat- 
erloo and of England's overthrow of Napoleon and of his death, a soli- 
tary prisoner, in a distant island, was still fresh, and the naval superior- 
ity of England, established at least a half century before, and which, for 
the reason that steam had not been introduced as a motive pow^er in 
ships of war, still continued, made her the most powerful of nations. It 



ii6 



is not strange that England played the bully at times, or that English- 
men, often, carried the same spirit into their intercourse with foreigners. 
It is said that the average Englishman of the period described every 
foreigner as " some sort of a creature, you know." It must be admitted 
that the Americans, not only on the frontier of Vermont, but on the en- 
tire frontier, irrespective of their opinions concerning the grievances, real 
or imaginary, of which the " Canadian Rebels " complained, had feelings 
of hostility, inherited from past generations, toward England. It is a 
curious circumstance that the course of England toward the United 
States had served but to perpetuate and intensify the hostile sentiments 
which resulted from the differences which led to the War of Independ- 
ence and from the war itself. Until 1796 various posts, not less than 
eight in number, from Macinac to Lake Champlain, all lying within the 
territory of the United States, were garrisoned by British troops, whose 
officers exercised jurisdiction over the surrounding country. It was with 
great difficulty that Gen. Wayne, after his victory over the Indians in 
1794, restrained his troops from assailing and capturing a newly built 
British fort, just south of Detroit, which they met in the pursuit of the 
Indians. It is true that England alleged that there were good reasons 
for retaining possession of those forts, but, still, the fact was a cause of 
irritation. In addition to this the British fleets in 1783 carried away 
about 3 ooo negroes, contrary to the terms of the treaty of peace, and, 
for them England refused to make payment. Then came, during the 
wars in Europe which followed the French Revolution, the measures 
adopted by England which tended to cripple and destroy the commerce 
of the United States. And finally, and this was the most galling of all 
the proceedings of England, and which principally led to the war of 
l8i2-'i4, England claimed the right, and actually enforced it, to search 
American vessels, even ships of war, for subjects of Her Majesty. 

If, in the lapse of time, the feelings of hostility, which have been men- 
tioned, had been obliterated or buried, they were renewed, during our 
late civil war, on other grounds. The well-known if not avowed sym- 
pathy of England for the Seceding States, based as we believed, and still 
believe, not upon love of them, or dislike of us, but upon jealousy of the 
whole country, and the building, equipping, and furnishing with fuel, 
provisions, men and munitions of war, in English ports, of cruisers, which 
were Confederate but in name, and which substantially destroyed 
American commerce; these facts revived all the feelings of i775-'83 and 
i8i2-'i4. I doubt whether the officers and crew of the Kearsarge could 
have enjoyed more the putting into the Alabama of every shot which 
they planted in her if she had flown a British instead of a Confederate 
flag. The most offensive feature of all to the individual American was 
that he was obliged to listen to the expression of regrets that the Union 
would never be restored. An Englishman said to me, with a shake of 



117 

the head : " I am sorry, I am sorry, but I am afraid that you will never 
succeed." I believed that, though he did not intentionally speak falsely, 
he was unconsciously exultant and was not sorry, but what could I say ? 
We did succeed, and we now feel and say that we forgive, even if we 
cannot forget. I can state, however, as to my English friend, for we were 
well acquainted and were friends, that he understood and appreciated my 
views and wishes better than did many of my own countrymen, who con- 
sidered all of us Democrats more or less disloyal because we did not con- 
form in our views to theirs. As to them, also, we now feel and say that 
we forgive even if we cannot forget. 

My father had had another opportunity, long before this, to fire a re. 
turn shot. During the war of 'i2-'i4, lie was sent on a vessel to the 
northern end of Lake Champlain on some matter connected with an ex- 
change of prisoners. This was not long before the invasion conducted 
by Sir George Prevost, and which the English hoped would have results 
which Gen. Burgoyne had failed to accomplish. Counting too much 
upon the political hostility of the New England States to the Administra- 
tion of Mr. Madison, they hoped that the capture of Albany by the British 
Army would cause so much disaffection in the East that the Administra- 
tion would be glad to make peace on terms advantageous to England. 
Hence the air was full of surmises as to the proposed invasion and its 
possible results. On this occasion, while my father was busily engaged 
in the cabin of the vessel with the officer appointed to confer with him 
concerning the exchange, another officer came in, with much bluster, and 
said to my father: "Can you tell me, Sir, what is the distance from 
Whitehall to Albany ? " My father answered : " I do not know the exact 
distance, but I have always understood that Saratoga is about midway 
between the two points, and that it is (stating the distance) miles from 
Whitehall." What was the real object of the question can only be sur- 
mised, but it was clear that the officer saw the reference to Saratoga, the 
place where Burgoyne surrendered, for he " took nothing by his motion," 
said nothing further, but turned upon his heel and departed. My father 
enjoyed telling me of this, and I enjoyed hearing it. 



Note 6i. William Grigsby Freeman. (Born in and appointed from 
Va.) Cadet, July, '30 ; Bvt. Sec. Lt. 4th Art., July, '34 ; Ass't Com. Sub., 
July, '36; Bvt. Fst. Lt. for gallantry and services in Florida war, March, 
'43 to date from Nov., '36; Adj. & Capt. Reg't mounted Creek Vol's, 
Sept., '36, and Maj., June to Sept., '37; Fst. Lt. July, '38; Ass't Inst. 
Art. & Cav., M. A., Feb., '40, to Aug., '41 ; Ass't Adj. Gen. (rank of 
Capt.), Dec. '41 : (rank of Maj.) March, '47; Capt., Sept., '47; Bvt. Lt. 
Col. for meritorious conduct, March, '49. to date from May, '48; Resd., 
March, '56. [Died, Nov., '66, at Cornwall, Penn.] 



ii8 



Note 62. William Jenkins Worth. (Born in N. Y,, 1794.) Fst. Lt. 
23rd Inf., March, '13; Aid de C. to Maj. Gen. Lewis, '13: Aid de C. to 
Brig. Gen. Scott, March, '14; B\-t. Capt. for gallant conduct in the Battle 
of Chippewa, July 5th, '14; Bvt. Maj. for gallant conduct in the Battle of 
Niagara, July 25th, '14, in which he was severely wounded; Capt., Aug., 
'14; Retained, May, '15, in 2nd Inf.; Instr. Inf. Tac. and Com'd't of 
Cadets, March, '20, to Dec, '28; Maj. Ord., May, '32; Col. 8th Inf., 
July, '38; Bvt. Brig. Gen. for gallantry in Florida war, March, '42; Bvt. 
Maj. Gen. for services at Monterey, Sept., '46; Rec'd a sword by resolu- 
tion of Congress, Mar.. '47; Com. Div. in Gen. Scott's army; Distin- 
guished at Vera Cruz, Puebla, Churubusco. and Mexico ; Died May, '49, 
at San Antonio, Texas. 



Note 63. Abraham Eustis. (Born in Mass., 1786). Capt. Light Art., 
May, '08; Maj., March, '10; Com. his Reg't in capture of York, U. C, 
April, '13; Bvt. Lt. Col. for meritorious services, Sept., '13; Retained, 
May, '15, in Light Art.; In 4th Art., May, '21 ; Lt. Col. 4th Art., May, 
'22; Bvt. Col. for 10 years faithful service, Sept., '23; Bvt. Brig. Gen., 
June, '34; Col. 1st Art., Nov., '34; Died June, '43, at Portland, Maine. 
(Gen. E. had two sons in the Army, graduates of the U. S. Mil. Acad. : 
one, William, now residing in Phil., and the other, Henry Langdon, for 
many years Prof Lawrence Sci. School, Harvard University, who died in 
1885, at Cambridge, Mass.) 



Note 64. Walker Keith Armstead. (Born in and app'd from Va.) 
Cadet, May, '01 ; Sec. Lt. Eng., March, '03 ; Fst. Lt., June, '05 ; Capt., 
Oct., '06; Maj., July, '10; Lt. Col., July, '12 ; Ch. Eng. of Army on the 
Niagara, Oct., '12; In bombardment of Fort Niagara, Nov., '12; Eng. for 
defence of Norfolk, &c., '13; Col. & Chief Eng., Nov., '18; Retained, 
May, '21 ; Col. 3rd Art., June, '21 ; Bvt. Brig. Gen. for ten years faithful 
service, Nov., '28; Died at Upperville, Va., Oct., '45. 



Note 65. William Gates. (Born in and app'd from Mass. ; Son of 
Capt. Lemuel Gates of the Army.) Cadet, March, '01 ; Sec. Lt. Art., 
March, '06; Fst. Lt., Nov., '07; Capt., March, '13; In bombardment and 
capture of Fort George, U. C, May, '13; Retained, May, '15, in Art. ; 
In 2nd Art., May, '21 ; Bvt. Maj. for 10 years faithful service, March, '23; 
Maj. 1st Art., May, '32 ; In 2nd Art., Aug., '36; Lt. Col. 3rd Art., Dec, 
'36; Col. 3rd Art., Oct., '45; Retired, June, '63; Bvt. Brig. Gen., March, 
'65 ; Died in city of New York, Oct., '68. 



1 19 

Note 66. John Rogers Vinton. (Born in and app'd from R. I.) Cadet, 
'14; 3rd Lt. Art., July, '17; Sec. Lt., Oct., '17; Fst. Lt., Sept., '19; In 
4th Art., June, '21; In 3rd Art., Dec, '21 ; Aid de C. to Gen. Brown, 
March, '25, to May, '28; Bvt. Capt. for 10 years faithful service, Sept., 
'29; Capt., Dec, '35 ; Distinguished in action, Feb. 8th, '37; Bvt. Maj. 
for services at Monterey, Sept., '46; Killed at Vera Cruz, March, '47. 



Note 67, Isaac H. Baldwin. (App'd from Va.) Ass't Sun, Aug., 
'36; Res'd, May, '41. 



Note 68. George C. Rodney. (Born in and app'd from Del.) Cadet, 
'33; Sec Lt. 3d Art., July, '37; Fst. Lt., July, '38; Ass't Com. Sub., 
Dec, '38; Died, Nov., '39, at St. Augustine, Fla. 



Note 69. While on the steamboat Forester and near Brunswick, 
Geo., my father made this entry in his journal: " North of B. saw the 
bow of the steamboat Clarendon, which was burnt, by accident, last 
winter and sunk ; thought of ' How swiftly glides the Clarendon o'er 
the smooth Cape Fear,' and looked at the ' smoke ' of the Forester in 
memory of pious Mrs. W. of Wilmington." That the significance of 
this entry may be understood an explanation is necessary. During our 
residence at Smithville the Clarendon was put upon the Cape Fear River 
to ply between Smithville and Wilmington, taking the place of a much 
smaller steamboat. By most of the people of the vicinity, including all 
of the negroes and all of the boys, except such of the latter as had had 
the advantages of travel, the Clarendon was considered a miracle of 
marine architecture, never before equaled and never thereafter to be 
surpassed. '•'■ Pious Mrs. W." was a lady of high social position, and 
not only pious, but poetical and sentimental withal. In those days, and 
in that part of the country, piety was of a stalwart type, and religious 
tenets were held without dilution or concession. If any one had under- 
taken to broach the theory of probation of the present day, the Sheol of 
the Revised Version would have been considered too mild for him. Bvt. 
Maj. Geo. Blaney, of the Army, was fond of telling that he happened to 
find himself a fellow-passenger, on the Clarendon, with Mrs. W^, on a 
pleasant and calm day, and that, while they were sitting together, she 
broke out with: "How swiftly glides the Clarendon o'er the smooth 
Cape Fear," and that, suddenly, a change in the course of the boat, or 
in the direction of the light wind, brought into view the dense volume of 
the black smoke rising from the pine wood fuel and pouring forth from 



I20 



the chimney stack, whereupon Mrs. W. exclaimed: "Oh! Shocking! 
Shocking ! Shocking! that smoke makes me think of the torments of the 
damned ! " 



Note 70. I think that the political supporters of Mr. Clay were more 
devoted to him, personally, than were the supporters of any other public 
man, who has made a name in the history of the country, to their leader. 
His supporters were, each and all, his personal friends. Their devotion 
was not due, as is often tTie case, to his connection with important 
events, to his skill and wisdom in dealing with any crisis, or to the 
prestige which results from success. His supporters continued to cling 
to him in spite of defeat. He was often nominated for the Presidency, 
and as often was unsuccessful. His friends regretted the fact that he 
was not the nominee of a Whig Convention as much as they regretted 
his defeat when in nomination, and their disappointment served merely 
to induce them to renew their efforts on his behalf. In 1840, when 
cowardly considerations of availability gave the nomination to another, 
it is safe to say that Mr. Clay would have been elected if nominated, and 
" Harry of the West '' would have carried with him, when he entered the 
White House, the best wishes of all the people. 

Mr. Clay's supporters in Burlington were such as I have described. 
I mention one by name, Lewis Higbie. He was a farmer, who resided 
in the vicinity, of average intelligence, and having the appearance and 
deportment of his class, but possessing a bright mind and ready wit, 
and such command and flow of language, marked with good sense, that 
he did not fail to make himself heard, acceptably, at Town Meetings and 
similar gatherings. I do not know what were his habits ordinarily, but 
he rarely failed, on important occasions, to partake freely of the cups 
which inebriate as well as cheer. He was an ardent Whig, and, of course, 
a devoted admirer of Mr. Clay, and to him the visit of the latter to Bur- 
lington was a very great event, which he deemed it his duty to celebrate 
in the usual manner. It was necessary for Mr. Clay, in going from the 
steamboat to the carriage provided for him, to pass through a narrow 
lane on each side of which stood a pile of boards built up to the height 
of a man's head. Higbie was sufficiently tall, but, being determined to 
see everything and to attract Mr. Clay's attention, and taking Zacchaeus 
as his example : 

Lewis Higbie, he, 
Henry Clay to see, 

Did climb a 

pile of boards, and, as Mr. Clay passed in front of him, stooped and ex- 
tended his hand. In his condition at the time, the effort was too much 



121 



for him, and he would have pitched headlong to the ground, had not Mr. 
Clay, comprehending the situation, sustained Higbie by his own out- 
stretched arm and a vigorous grasp of the hand, until some persons 
standing on the pile restored his admirer to a sure footing. It was the 
proudest moment of Higbie's life. No sooner had he gained his equilib- 
rium than, waving his hat frantically, he screamed : " Three cheers for 
Henry Clay, who has saved his country three times and Lewis Higbie 
once.'' 

The fame of this occurrence extended beyond the limits of Burlington, 
or, even, the State of Vermont. In the Spring of 1844, being then a 
resident of Keeseville, New York, I joined a party of Whig gentlemen 
residing at Burlington, and accompanied them to Baltimore, and was 
there during the sitting of the Whig National Convention which nomi- 
nated Clay and Frelinghuysen. There I saw and heard, for the first time, 
Daniel Webster, by far the most imposing man I ever saw. After the 
nominations had been made our party went to Washington, and one 
evening a number of us called upon Mr. Clay. According to my recollec- 
tion we were presented to him in what appeared to be the parlors of a 
private house. In addition to our party, fifteen or twenty other persons, 
ladies and gentlemen, were present. One of the Vermonters presented 
a sprig of evergreen to Mr. Clay and told him that it came from the farm 
of Lewis Higbie. This led to so much merriment that some one of those. 
who were not of our party, asked Mr. Clay for an explanation. Accord- 
ingly, he told the story in his inimitable style, and added that that was 
not the first time he had narrated it. He said that, in some one of his 
journeys in the Southern States, a toast or a speech complimentary to 
him referred to his services with such exactness and so specifically as to 
their number as to remind him forcibly of Higbie's statement that he had 
saved the country three times, and that, in his answer, he said that the 
sentiment expressed recalled to his recollection an occurrence which had 
taken place at Burlington, in Vermont, and then proceeded to narrate it 
in full. So much for Lewis Higbie. May he rest in peace. 
See Appendix D. 



Note 71. Edward O. C. Ord. (Son of Lt. James Ord, who served in 
1813-15; Born in Maryland, and app'd from D. C.) Cadet, Sept., '35; 
2nd Lt. 3rd Art., July, '39; Fst. Lt., July, '41 ; Capt., Sept., '50; Brig. 
Gen. Vol's, Sept., '61 ; Maj., 4th Art, Nov., '61 ; Bvt. Lt. Col., for serv- 
ices at Battle of Dranesville, Dec, '61 ; Maj. Gen. Vol's, May, '62; Bvt. 
Col., for services at Battle of luka, Sept., '62; Severely wounded in Bat- 
tle of the Hatchie, Oct., '62; Wounded in capture of Fort Harrison, 
Sept., '64; Bvt. Brig. Gen., for services at Battle of the Hatchie, March, 



122 



•65 ; Bvt. Maj. Gen,, for services at assault of Fort Harrison, March, '65 ; 
Lt. Col. 1st Art., Dec, '65: Brig. Gen., July, '66; retired, ; 

Died, July, '83, at Havana, Cuba. 



Note 72. Eugene Van Ness, (App'd from N. Y.) Paymr., Dec, '39; 
Dep. Paynar, Gen., Feb., '55; Died, May, '62, at Baltimore. 



Note 73. I do not find in Gardner's Dictionary any Lt. Martin of the 
7th Inf. I think that the officer must have been John W. Martin, of Va. 
Sec. Lt. 2nd Inf., July, '39; Res'd, Nov., '46; Sec Lt. 3rd Drag., July, 
'47; Bvt. Fst. Lt., for gallant conduct, Oct., '47; Died, June, '48, at Na- 
tional Bridge, Mex. — or, Wilmot Martin, of Penn., Sec. Lt. 3rd Inf., 
March, '37; Fst. Lt., July, '39; Res'd, May, '40. 



Note 74. James S. Sanderson (Mass.), Sergeant ; Sec Lt. 7th Inf., 
March, '38; Ass't Com, Sub., Dec, '38; Killed, May, '40, at Levy's Prai- 



rie, near Fort Micanopy 



Note 75. I think it well to copy here a few entries made in the 
journal in the early part of 1841, "Jan, 19, — The catkins of white 
maple out on the Suwannee river, and leaves of blackberry briar an inch 
long. 22nd. — Leaves of white elder, one inch; buds of peach quite 
large, not opened, at Col. R. Gamble's (Weelanee, or Yellow- water Creek). 
25th. — Cherry red, and plum in blossom. 30th. — Leaves of Althea out, 
and of morns vmlticauUs ; peach in bloom, or some blossoms out full. 
30th. — Strawberries iu bloom." 



Note ']6. On the termination of this service my father received a let- 
ter, of which the following is a copy : 

"Headquarters, Army of Florida. 

Tampa, May 4th, 1841. 
Sir: 

Your communication of the 26th ult., announcing the final completion 
of your duties as mustering officer of the Militia, has been received and 
laid before the Commanding General, 

The General cannot suffer this opportunity to pass without expressing 



12' 



to you his high gratification at the zeal and fidehty with which you have 
discharged the arduous and responsible duties so long confided to you. 
He is satisfied they could not have been in better hands. * * 

I am, sir, 

Very resp'y, 

Yr. obt. serv't, 

W. W. S. Bliss, 

Ass' Adj. Gen'l. 
Maj. S. Churchill, 
3rd Art., 

Tallahassee, 
M. F." 

Bvt, Lt. Col. Bliss was born in N. Y., and appointed from N. H. He 
graduated in 1833, and died in 1853. He was in the Adj. Gen'l's Dep't 
from '39 till the time of his death. He married a daughter of Gen. Tay- 
lor, as did Jefferson Davis, and was long on his staff. He was a son of 
Capt. John Bliss, of the Army, who was appointed a Cadet from N. H. 
in '08, and graduated in '11. 



Note tt. Charles Mapes. (App'd from New York.) Paymaster, 
January, '35; Disbanded, Sept., '42. [Died, June, '52.] 



Note 78. Samuel P. Heintzelman. (Born in and app'd from Penn.) 
Cadet, July, '22 ; Bvt. 2nd Lt. 3rd Inf., July, '26; 2nd Lt. 2nd Inf, 
July, '26; Fst. Lt., March, '33; Ass't Com. Sub., April, '36; Ass't 
Quarm. (rank of Capt.), July, '38; Capt., Nov., '38; Bvt. Maj., for gal- 
lant conduct in Battle of Huamantla, Mexico, Oct., '47; Bvt. Lt. Col., 
Dec, '51; Maj. 1st Inf., March, '55 ; Col. 17th Inf., May, '61; Brig. 
Gen. Vols., May, '61 ; Wounded in Battle of Bull Run, July, '61 ; Maj. 
Gen. Vols., May, '62; Bvt. Brig. Gen., for gallant conduct in Battle of 
Fair Oaks, May, '62; Contused in Battle of Glendale ; Bvt. Maj. Gen., 
for gallant conduct in Battle of Williamsburg, March, '65 ; retired, Feb., 
'69 ; Died in the city of Washington, May, '80. 



Note 79. Kemp was a soldier in Co. D, ist Art., at Fort Johnson, 
Smithville, N. C, during all the time my father was in command of the 
post, which was from '28 to '35. He was detailed more than once, I 
think, as an Orderly in my father's service, and, I have been informed, 



124 

was his Orderly at Buena Vista, Mexico. At the time mentioned in the 
journal, he. was in the 2nd Art. I saw him at Fort Adams, near New- 
port, in '48 or '49, and he was then in Capt. and Bvt. Maj. W. T. Sher- 
man's Battery, in the 3rd Art. He was afterwards at Fort Independence, 
in Boston Harbor, in another Battery in the same regiment. He served, 
I am informed, eight enlistments, and was always a private, except that 
he once rose to the dignity of being made lance-corporal, but held that 
grade only until next pay day. In '51 or '52 it was out of the question to 
pass him for re-enlistment, but he was very averse to going to the Mil- 
itary Asylum, as it was then called, near Washington, which was estab- 
lished after the Mexican war. His feelings must have been like those of 
Betty Higden. He was finally persuaded to go to the Asylum, but be- 
came disgusted and remained for a short time only, went back to Fort 
Independence, though not as a soldier, and after '52 I have no trace of 
him. He was entitled to a renewal of the small pension which he re- 
ceived after his discharge from the Army, but forfeited on going to the 
Asylum. My brother, who knew him at Smithville, and afterwards at 
Fort Adams and Fort Independence, told me that, in the course of a con- 
versation with Kemp as to his future, he asked him why he did not go to 
his friends, and that the answer was: "I haven't a damn-the-friend." 
Such, no doubt, was the case. An ignorant man, and, probably, of 
common-place origin, who had passed all his life in the Army, and, as it 
may be presumed, had had no communication with his relatives and the ac- 
quaintances of his youth, must have been long considered as dead, if he 
had not been entirely forgotten ; and it was reasonable to believe that, if, 
in his old age, he had visited the home of his youth, he would have found 
no one who knew him, or had ever heard of him. My brother told my 
mother of this conversation, and afterwards, whenever it was mentioned, 
she would say and repeal : "Poor old Kemp." 



Note 80. John Ellis Wool. (Born in and app'd from N. Y.) Capt. 
13th Inf., April, '12 ; Distinguished and severely wounded in assault on 
Queenston Heights, Oct., '12; and, I believe, made prisoner; Maj. 
29th Inf., April, '13; Bvt. Lt. Col. for gallant conduct in Battle of Platts- 
burgh, Sept., '14; Retained, May, '15, in 6th Inf.; Insp. Gen. (rank of 
Col.), Sept., '16; Lt. Col. 6th Inf., Feb., '18; Bvt. Brig. Gen. for 10 
years faithful service, April, '26; Brig. Gen., June, '41 ; Commanding 
Central Div. of the Army in Mexico, and united afterwards with the Div. 
of Gen. Taylor ; Bvt. Maj. Gen. for gallant and meritorious conduct in 
Battle of Buena Vista, Feb., '47; Retired, May, '62; Died, Nov., '69, at 
Troy, N. Y. 



125 

NoteSi. Nathan Towson. (Born 1784 in Maryland.) Capt. 2nd 
Art., March, '12; Bvt. Maj. for capturing the enemy's brig Caledonia 
under the guns of Fort Erie, Oct., '12; Wounded in repelling attack on 
outworks of Fort George, July, '13; Bvt. Lt. Col. for conduct in the 
Battle of Chippewa, July, '14; Retained, May, '15, in Light Art., 
Paymr. Gen., Aug., '19; Col. 2nd Art., June, '21 ; Negatived by Senate, 
May, '22; Re-app'd Paymr. Gen., May, '22; Bvt. Brig. Gen., June, '34; 
Bvt. Maj. Gen., May, '48; Died at the city of Washington, July, '54. 
(It was Gen. Towson who, as stated in a former note, had the last shot 
on the Niagara Frontier in 1814.) 



Note 82. Roger Jones. (App'd from Va.) [Sec. Lt. Marines, Jan., 
'09; Fst. Lt., May, '09.] Capt. 3rd Art., July, '12; Brig. Maj., May, '13; 
Ass't Adj. Gen. (rank of Maj.), Aug., '13; Bvt. Maj. for services in Bat- 
tle of Chippewa, July, '14-, Bvt. Lt. Col. for services in sortie from Fort 
Erie, Sept., '14; Retained ]\Iay, '15, in Art.; Aid de C. to Maj. Gen. 
Brown, June, '15; Adj. Gen. (rank of Col.), Aug., '18; Retained, May, 
'21, in 3rd Art.; Bvt. Col. for ten years faithful service, Sept., '24; Adj. 
Gen. of the Army, March, '25 ; Maj. 2nd Art., Feb., '27 ; Bvt. Brig. Gen., 
June, '32; Relinquished rank in the line, April, '35; Bvt. Maj. Gen., May, 
'48; Died at the city of Washington, July, '52. 



Note 83. My father's family residence, at that time, was Burlington, 
Vermont, and my mother and sister, my younger brother and I were 
living at the Pearl Street House, which afterwards became a Convent. 
Major (afterwards Bvt. Brig. Gen) Ethan Allen Hitchcock, a grandson 
of Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, and who captured the English 
Fort at Ticonderoga, 8th Inf., happened to be in Burlington, and, hav- 
ing learned, in some way, of the appointment, called upon my mother to 
inform her of the fact, of which we were entirely ignorant, and to con- 
gratulate her upon the distinguished honor conferred upon her husband. 
It was a pleasant September evening, and our intimate friend, Robert S. 
Hale, was present, when Major Hitchcock arrived, and, after the latter 
left, remained with us to join in the family rejoicings. 



Note 84. As has already been made apparent, it was not merely 
matters of a public and serious nature which attracted my father's atten- 
tion and were noticed in his journal. I find, in his handwriting, the 
following : 

" Epitaph on the gravestone of Serg. Amasa Snow, 2nd Inf., died at 
Fort Niagara, April 17, 1829. 



I20 

Here lies poor Snow 

Full six feet deep, 
Whose heart would melt 

When caused to weep ; 

Though winter's blast 

May freeze his frame, 
Yet death's cold grasp 

Can't chill his fame." 

My father's first inspection of Fort Niagara, when probably the epi- 
taph was copied, was on the I2th of June, 1842. My mother and sister 
were with him. On the 21st of July, '53, I went from New York to 
Buffalo, where my father, mother and brother had arrived from the 
Upper Lakes and intermediate points. On the 22nd we went to Niag- 
ara Falls, where I remained over night, and the next day overtook the 
rest of the party at Youngstown, near which village Fort Niagara is sit- 
uated. I did not hear of Serg. Snow by name or "fame;" but, on my 
mother's telling me that Dr. Thomas J. C. Monroe, Ass't Surg., of Va., 
who was stationed at Smithville in or about 1833, was buried in the little 
U. S. Cemetery, I went to it, and saw the stone which marked his grave. 
He died in '39. He was a character. 



Note 85. William J. Hardee. (Born in and app'd from Geo.) Cadet, 
July, '34; Sec. Lt. 2nd Dra., July, '38; Fst. Lt., Dec, '39; At the Cav- 
alry School of Saumer, France, '40-42; Capt., Sept., '44; Captured in 
skirmish of La Rosia, 30 miles above Matamoras, April 25, '46, and held 
as prisoner of war till released. May 10, '46; Bvt. Maj. for gallant con- 
duct, March, '47 ; Bvt. Lt. Col. for gallant conduct, Aug., '47 ; Engaged, 
'53-56, in compiling " Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics," being chiefly a 
translation by Lt. Benet, Ord. Corps (now Brig. Gen. and Chief of Ord- 
nance), of a French Military work, which, as modified by a revising 
Board of Officers, was adopted March, '55, for the use of the Army and 
Militia of the U. S., and commonly known as Hardee's Tactics ; Maj- 
2nd Cav., March, '55; Com. of Cadets, July, '56, to Sept., '60; Lt. Col. 
1st Cav., June, '60; Res'd January, '61. [In Confederate Army; Died, 
Nov., '63, at Wytheville, Va.] 



Note 86. George Croghan. (Born 1791 in Ken. Son of Maj. Wm. 
C. of Rev. Army, and nephew of Gen. Geo. R. Clark.) Vol. Aid de C. to 
Col. Boyd in command of Brigade in Battle of Tippecanoe, Nov. '11. 
[Col. John P. Boyd was born in 1768 in Mass.; was in the Mahratta 
Service in the East Indies, and rose to the rank of Comdr. of 10,000 



127 

Cavalry, Was in the U. S. Army i8o8-'i5; Was Naval Officer of Port 
of Boston, and died at Boston, Oct., '30.] Capt. 17th Inf., March, '12; 
Maj., March, '13; Aid de C. to Maj. den. Harrison, and distinguished 
in defense of Fort Meigs and in the Sortie, May, '13; Distinguished in 
defense of Fort Stephenson, Lower Sandusky, and repulse of British 
and Indians, Aug., '13; Bvt. Lt. Col. for conduct at Fort Stephenson, 
Aug., '13; Lt. Col. 2nd Rifles, Feb., '14; Retained in ist Inf., May, '15; 
Resigned, March, '17. [Postmr. at New Orleans, July, '24.] Insp. Gen. 
(rank of Col.), Dec, '25; Rec'd gold medal from Congress for conduct at 
Fort Stephenson, Feb., '35; Died, Jan., '49, at New Orleans. 



Note 87. Named after Maj. Jacob Brown, 7th Inf., of Mass., who 
was in command of his regiment and of the fort at the commencement of 
the bombardment, was mortally wounded on the 6th of May, and died 
on the 9th. 



Note 88. Braxton Bragg. (Born in and app'd from N. C.) Cadet, 
July, '33; Sec. Lt. 3rd Art., July, '37; Fst. Lt., July, '38; Bvt. Capt. for 
gallant conduct in defense of Fort Brown, May, '46; Capt., June, '46; 
Bvt. Maj. for gallant conduct at Monterey, Sept., '46; Bvt, Lt. Col. for 
gallant conduct at Buena Vista, Feb., '47; (Maj. ist Cav., March, '55, 
Declined); Resigned, Jan., '56. [In Confederate Army; Died, Sept., 
'76, at Galveston.] 



Note 89. I copy the following entry in the journal ; " On Christmas 
day the enemy were reported as being near in the morning; the troops 
were prepared for action, and the tents were mostly struck." 



Note 90. William Orlando Butler. (Born in Ken., 1793.) Serg. Ken. 
Vol's, '12; Ensign 2d Inf. and Sec. Lt., Sept., '12; In action at French- 
town, Jan. i8th, '13; In battle and defeat at River Raisin, and made 
prisoner, Jan. 22d, '13; In 17th Inf., April, '13; Capt. 44th Inf., Aug., 
'13; Bvt. Maj. for gallant conduct at New Orleans, Dec, '14; Retained 
in 1st Inf., May., '15; Aid de C. to Maj. Gen. Jackson, June, '16; Res'd, 
May, '17. [Rep. in Cong, from Ken., '39-43.] Maj. Gen. Vol's for Mexi- 
can war, June, '46; Distinguished and wounded at Monterey, Sept., '46; 
Rec'd sword by res. of Cong, for gallantry and good conduct at Monterey, 
March, '47; In command of Army in the Valley of Mexico, Feb., '48; 
Disbanded, Aug., '48. (Gen. Butler was the candidate for the Vice- 



128 



Presidency on the Democratic ticket in '48 ; I hav^e not the date or place 
of his death.) 

Gen. Butler was a member of a distinguished Pennsylvania family of 
that name, to which, so far as my reading enables me to form an opinion, 
sufficient attention has not been paid in general history or in that of their 
native State. I understand that they were not related to the Tory, Col, 
Walter Butler, who, with Joseph Brant, the Indian Chief, overran the 
Mohawk Valley, and was engaged in the massacre at Cherry Valley, and 
the other Tory, Col. John Butler, who. with Brant, attacked the forces com- 
manded by Col. Zebulon Butler, at Wyoming, defeated them and mas- 
sacred the settlers. I have seen the monument, some three or four miles 
from Wilkesbarre, erected on the battlefield, and beneath which are the re- 
mains of the slain. There were five of the '' Butler Brothers,'' regarding 
whom, on one occasion, Gen. Washington gave as a toast . " The five 
Butlers; a gallant band of patriot brothers." They were: Richard, who 
served in the Revolution, and was killed in Nov., '91, in St. Clair's defeat 
by the Indians on the Miami River; William, who served in the Rev- 
olution ; Thomas^ who served in the Revolution, and, afterwards, was 
a Major commanding a battalion from Carlisle in Col, George Gibson's 
regiment, and was twice wounded at St. Clair's defeat, the Colonel being 
mortally wounded; Percival, or, as I have seen it in print, Pierce ; and 
Edward, who also was in Gibson's regiment. Jattics R., a son of Rich- 
ard, served in the war of i8i2-'i4, and was " Military Storekeeper" at 
Alleghany Arsenal, from March, '26, while my father was in command of 
the Arsenal. Richard, a son of William, was in the Army from '93 to 
'99. Thomas E., a son of Percival, was in the Army from '09 to '15. 
Robert, ^.SQwoi Thomas, was in the Army from '12 to *2i. William 
Orlando, the subject of this note, was another son oi Percival. Edward 
G. W., a graduate of the M. A., Class of 1820, a son oi Edward, was in 
the Army fro.m '20 to '31, and again in '47-8. Some of these members 
of the family, of the second generation, were specially distinguished. 
Gardner's Dictionary mentions John Russell as a so}t of Percival, and 
states that he was Aid de C. to M. Gen. W. O. Buile.-. I saw him at 
Memphis in the fall of '47. He was, apparently, not over 25 years old, 
and I understood that he was a nephew of Gen. B. If such was the 
case he was a grandson of Percival. The same dictionary also men- 
tions Richard B. Butler and John B, Butler, but does not connect them 
with the " Butler Brothers." The facts stated in the dictionary concerning 
them, and my own recollection, lead me to believe that they were sons 
of Capt. James R. Butler. I remember that Capt. B. had two sons, 
" Dick" and John. They were so much older than I that they were 
companions of my brother William, and, if I am not greatly mistaken, a 
companion of the three was " Dan Rice," who subsequently won a na- 
tional reputation. Two persons of the same name, and no doubt the 



129 

same persons, were in the army commanded by Gen. Wool, and are 
mentioned by my father as under his immediate command. Capt. John 
G. Butler, of the Ord, Dep't, who graduated in '63, was born in and 
app'd from Penn., and Wilham P. Butler, who graduated in '66, and is 
not now in the service, was born in and app'd from Ken., but it does 
not appear affirmatively that either is of the Butler family. 



Note 91. On this occasion Gen. Wool wrote to my father as fol- 
lows : 

" Headquarters, Centre Division, 

Camp at La Encantada, 

Mexico, January 4th, 1847. 
Col.: 

As you are about to leave me after having been with my command 
more than four months, I cannot, in justice to my own feelings as well 
as what is due to you, permit the occasion to pass without expressing 
my deep regrets at losing one to whom I am so much indebted for the 
part he has taken, on all occasions, in maintaining the discipline and 
improving the efficiency of the troops under my orders, and who has, at 
all times, so ably and faithfully performed all the duties that have de- 
volved upon him. 

My kindest wishes, Colonel, will attend you wherever you may be 
called, and I shall hail with pleasure any event of the ever changeable 
state of things incident to our profession that may again bring us 
together. 

Very truly and sincerely, 

Your obt. serv't, 

John E. Wool, 



Briar. Gen'l. 



To Col, S. Churchill, 
Ins. Gen'l, 

U. S. Army." 



Note 92. I copy from the journal as follows* "Monday, 22d, at 
9 a. m., the enemy was reported as in sight from and advancing upon 
our advance position, Col. Hardin's. The troops were immediately 
formed and marched to that part of the ground, the tents being struck 
and baggage loaded into wagons which were ordered to remain where 
■they were, and an express was sent to Gen. Taylor. [He had gone, with 
an escort, on the 21st to Saltillo, where all the munitions and supplies of 

9 



I.iO 



the Army, except those in camp, were stored, in order, probably to make 
arrangements for a defense against an attack in the rear at that place.] 
By noon, the enemy, in large force, occupied the ground from one to two 
miles in front of our position, and at two o'clock commenced a fire of 
field pieces, and by skirmishers on the hill opposite our left, and at about 
the same time Santa Anna sent a flag to Gen. Taylor, reporting that he, 
with more than twenty thousand troops in position, was prepared to 
attack, and demanding an unconditional surrender. The firing, though 
not brisk or general, continued till sunset, the troops of both armies 
resting on their ground for the night, and without covering or fires, except 
the enemy's on the mountain. Our force consisted of less than 5,000 men 
of all arms. The firing recommenced at reveille, on the morning of the 
23d, by the enemy, and the battle raged with intense interest, and much 
of the time very general and animated, the enemy gaining considerable 
ground against and on our left for a portion of the day, till about 5 o'clock 
P.M., when we regained the ground lost, and, when the firing ceased, at 
about sunset, we were on the lines occupied by us in the morning, and 
again the troops lay on their arms as before, expecting a renewal of the 
fight the next day. At day-light, on the morning of the 24th, it was dis- 
covered that the enemy had retired, leaving his killed, many wounded, 
arms and ammunition, on the ground. He retired to Agua Nueva, where 
he remained till the 26th, and then continued the retreat, in much dis- 
order, toward San Luis. Our loss was 272 killed, 386 wounded, and 6 
missing— 664. The enemy lost, as near as could be ascertained, in the 
battle, about 2,000 killed and wounded, and more than that, in a few 
days, by desertion." 

I have mentioned Col. Bissell and his services in the Battle of Buena 
Vista. I think that what I am about to add will be interesting. 

I found, among my father's files of letters, one written to him by Col. 
Bissell, on the 21st of Jan., 1848, and covering three pages of letter 
paper. It is of no importance now, but is evidence of the high regard 
which each had for the other. In a letter written by my father in Jan., 
'49, to Senator Douglass, concerning the Battle of Buena Vista, and 
•which was afterwards printed in some of the newspapers in Illinois, my 
father speaks of Col. B. as "the modest and gallant Bissell." He 
praises the 2nd regiment highly, and I think that I cannot do better than 
to copy a portion of it, premising that he, himself, was " the staff officer '' 
mentioned. A statement of the condition of affairs, as disclosed by the 
letter, is also necessary. On the morning of the 23d of February, 1847, 
Gen. Wool placed the 2d Ill's Reg't (Bissell's) with the exception of four 
detached companies, on a part of the plateau, and, on its left, with an 
interval of about two hundred yards, the 2d Ind. Reg't (Col. Bowles's) 
with the exception of two detached companies. Both regiments faced 
the south, and, in their rear, was a ravine, which had its head or highest 



I^I 



portion near the mountain on the left, and which terminated, on the right, 
at the valley, through which ran the road upon which the Mexican Army 
was approaching from the south. Gen. Wool subsequently advanced 
the Ill's Reg't a distance of about two hundred yards, so that its right 
rested on the head of a shorter ravine which also extended to the valley. 
The entire plateau, on the left or east of the road, was intersected by 
ravines parallel to each other, terminating on the road, and some of them 
extending on the East to the mountain, and the rest to less distances. 
Gen. Wool then left for the road, a distance of about three-fourths of a 
mile, having directed my father, who was the senior staff officer, to remain 
and " take charge in that quarter, and give such orders in his (Gen. 
Wool's) name as he might think necessary." But, before leaving. Gen. 
Wool said to Brig. Gen. Lane: "I am going down to the road, and I 
rely upon you to defend this part of the field till I return.'' It is proper 
to state here that Gen. Lane's command was limited to the 2d Ind. and 
Lt. O'Brien's section (three guns) of Washington's battery. On the ap- 
proach of the enemy in that part of the field being announced. Gen. Lane, 
without consulting any one outside of his own command, advanced the 
regiment and the three guns. My father, whose attention at the time 
was directed elsewhere, supposed that Gen. Lane intended merely to ad- 
vance to a position near the centre of the plateau, so as to be within 
musket range of the enemy, as they would rise from the ravine. Had he 
known the purpose he would have interposed. But Gen. Lane advanced 
the troops out of sight from Bissell's position, and placed them in a posi- 
tion facing the road, or to the West, and exposing them to a flanking fire 
from a battery of three guns which had been in sight all the morning. 
Col. Bowles ordered the regiment to retreat, but the men did not retreat; 
they broke into a panic, and fled, and but seventy-two took any part, 
thereafter, in the action. I quote now from the letter: "The 2d Ind. re- 
treated by order of its Colonel, was obliged io retreat from (hat position. 
It had then lost nearly a quarter of its men. Was that any evidence of 
cowardice on the part of the company officers and men } The first 
military fault of the men * * * .yyas in electing as their colonel * * 
a man '" * they hoped and expected would be very kind and indul- 
gent to them * * and no doubt was so, but inefficient as a commander, 
protector, or tactician. Their second * * consisted in continuing 
their flight instead of halting and rallying on the first suitable ground. 
By that flight the whole plateau to the left of the 2d Ill's regiment, about 
half a mile to the mountain, was open, the enemy firing upon that regiment 
and approaching it in large force, evidently with an intention, certainly 
with the chance in its then position, to turn its left flank, gain its rear, 
and thus effect its capture. Seeing this ; foreseeing the inevitable des- 
truction of the regiment by death, capture or flight, in a very few minutes; 
that the main plateau must be held by that regiment alone, as infantryj 



1^2 



till another, then in sight approaching, should arrive, or the battle would 
be inevitably lost, the staff officer took upon himself * * the responsi- 
bility of moving that regiment to the rear and placing it near its first 
position on the verge of the ravine, so that the enemy would not be able, 
easily, to gain its rear. Yet the movement was a hazardous one ; a re- 
treat movement, under fire, is always more or less dangerous, even with 
regular veteran troops. In this instance the regiment had been but a 
few months in service, officers and men ; had never before been in battle, 
not even in a skirmish, and had just then witnessed the flight of another 
regiment, till then its left hand pillar, in a panic; and more, when faced 
about, would see that regiment still running from the field ; the panic 
was likely to be contagious. But he resolved to save the regiment and 
hoped, thereby, to save the battle ; failing, he would lose but his own 
character. He directed Col. Bissell to retire with his regiment and take 
another and better position, contiguous to and on the right of a light 
battery. This order was given when the regiment was receiving a 
heavy and killing fire from the advancing enemy, and many of its mem- 
bers had iallen. But the order was e.xecuted with cool precision and 
steadiness, and, after marching about two hundred yards, it was halted 
by word of command, faced about and resumed its fire, and not a man 
was out of place, nor out of ah'gn»ie}tt^ and all the while under a des- 
tructive fire. By this firmness and good conduct, which was witnessed 
by many persons with the most intense anxiety, the regiment and its 
worthy commander earned and received great praise; satisfied and re- 
lieved the anxiety of him who gave the order, held the position until re- 
inforced, and thereby opportunity was afforded for much more and like 
hard work, by that and other regiments, during the day and before the 
victory was finally ours." 

My father, in his narrative of this affair to me, said that all the 
mounted officers of the regiment had dismounted, but that he was on 
horseback at the time; that, consequently, he was a conspicuous object, 
could be seen and was seen by all the men, and, therefore, steadied and 
guided them and gave them confidence. 

It was in reference to this transaction that the controversy arose in 
the House of Representatives, which I have mentioned in the sketch, a 
member stating that southern troops held the ground from which northern 
troops had fled. My reading heretofore does not enable me to state 
what regiment it was which was seen "approaching," and I have not the 
means of ascertaining the fact to a certainty, though they indicate that 
it was a Kentucky regiment, the Colonel of which, Wm. R. McKee, and 
the Lt. Col., Henry Clay, Junr., a son'of Henry Clay, both graduates 
of West Point, were killed later in the day ; but it is certain that the 
ground was held by the section of artillery and the 2d Ill's Regiment, and 
that the movement and conduct of the latter have rarely been paralleled in 



- 00 

warfare. My father further wrote in the letter: '' There can be no doubt 
that the power and assistance which every arm, every corps, and, indeed, 
every man rendered * * * were important, as auxiliary to the efforts 
of all others, in winning that battle. * * * The artillery arm, consid- 
ering the relative strength of corps, performed the most prominent part ; 
and no artillery was ever served with better effect — in that there was no 
moment of mistake or fault." But, if any balancing of the merits or 
demerits of regiments from different parts of the country in that battle is 
deemed necessary, I am satisfied that the behavior of the 2d Ark. 
Cavalry was no better than that of the 2d Ind. Regiment, though it was 
never in the trying position in which that regiment was placed. 

When I visited Col. Bissell at Belleville, in the winter of 1847-8, he 
went with me to various parts of the village, and introduced me to a 
number of the former members of his regiment, who were residents of 
the place, and it will be readily understood that it was a sufficient intro- 
duction for him to say : *' This is a son of Col. Churchill. " 



Note 93. During the summer of 1847 Col. Churchill visited northern 
New York and Vermont, and, while he was in Woodstock, the following 
correspondence took place : 

"Woodstock, Aug. 19th, 1847. 
Sir: 

The citizens of Woodstock desire to extend to you a cordial welcome 
on your return to your native town, and beg leave to be allowed to pay 
you their respects, at a public dinner, which they propose to give at such 
time, to be designated by you, as shall suit your convenience. 
Very respectfully. Sir, 

Your obedient servants, 

NORMAN WILLIAMS, 
EDWIN HUTCHINSON, 
ELI. DUNHAM, 
Committee of the Citizens of Woodstock. 

To Col. Sylvester Churchill, 

Inspector General, U. S. Army." 

'• Woodstock, Aug. 20, 1847. 
Gentlemen : 

With profound respect I return my sincere thanks to the citizens of 
Woodstock for their cordial welcome on my return to my loved and na- 
tive town ; and I would gladly embrace the opportunity to meet them 
at the dinner to which you, on their behalf, have so kindly bidden me in 



your letter which I received late last night, but my engagements to re- 
turn to Washington and my public duties are such that I shall be obliged 
to leave town to-morrow afternoon, and must, therefore, deny myself the 
pleasure of accepting and enjoying the invitation. 

With my best wishes for the health and prosperity of yourselves and 
the esteemed citizens of Woodstock, I am, Gentlemen, your and their 
obedient servant and friend, 

SYLVESTER CHURCHILL. 

To Norman Williams, Edwin Hutchinson and Eli. Dunham, 
Esquires, Committee of Citizens of Woodstock." 
(The word Eli. was an abbreviation of the word Eliphalet.) 



Note 94. I may mention: 

A report made by him in 1859, after having had an interview at Fort 
Snelling with Gov. Ramsey, of Minnesota, and some officers of the 
Army, and another at Milwaukee with Gov. Dewey, of Wisconsin, upon 
" the affairs of, and apprehended dangers from, the Indians, the intru- 
ders of last winter, and others." To enable him to make the investiga- 
tion a number of papers and several newspaper slips were sent to him 
from Washington, and the investigation extended to the Sacs and Foxes, 
and the Sioux and Chippewas. He attended a Council held by Gov. 
Ramsey for the purpose of adjusting the difficulties and complaints be- 
tween the Sioux and Chippewas. Large numbers of Indians from each 
tribe or nation were present. My mother was with my father on this 
occasion, and her description of the Indians and of the proceedings was 
very interesting. 

In a report made in November, 1851. he states that he saw at Fort 
Trumbull, New London (and, apparently, for the first time), a perform- 
ance by Co. A, 3rd Art., of the bayonet exercise pursuant to a French' 
work translated by Capt. (afterwards Gen.) McClellan. The company 
was commanded by Bvt. Maj. Geo. Taylor, afterwards lost at sea from 
the steamer San Francisco. In a subsequent report my father, who was 
naturally inclined to regard, with favor, anything promising improve- 
ment, commended the translation and the exercise hi^^hly, but suggested 
a number of queries, such as the substitution of English for French 
words of command, as more intelligible to the soldiers, and the use of 
the '^'' s/iorUs/ comma.nd possible." 

I copy a portion of a report of an inspection of the U. S. Armory at 
Springfield, Mass., made in November, 1853, as follows: '"My attention 
was called to an examination of the arms of recent make by the new 
model and those made years ago by the old model, with a view to com- 
parison of workmanship. Seven muskets made in the year 1853, and 



135 

back to 1847 inclusive, and the same number from 1840 back to 1834, 
were placed side by side, and taken apart, so tliat each piece of the arm 
could be thoroughly examined. I called to my aid in this six master 
mechanics [naming them], now employed at the Armory, and also [name 
given] not now, for several years, employed. All appeared by their con- 
versation and manners to be highly respectable, well informed, and un- 
biassed in judgment. I took the opinion of each separately; and we de- 
cided, unanimously, that each of the seven muskets of the last make is 
superior in workmanship to any one of the former period, with the addi- 
tional advantage, in those of the new model, of every part fitting to 
any musket of the same pattern, and having cast-steel bayonets instead 
of shear-steel, I found, in the end, without any intimation of it before, 
that the musket of 1853 had been assembled {rom the parts promiscuous- 
ly, without having been inspected as a complete arm, and that the one 
of 1840 had been recently selected by a Board of Commissioners at the 
Armory as a superior or sample arm." It may not be generally known 
that it was at this Armory that the principle of interchangeability was 
first applied, so that, from a pile of all the parts of two or more muskets 
of the same pattern, as many complete muskets could be put together. 
This was in 1842, when the new percussion arm was introduced. This 
was an American invention, and the same principle is applied to the 
manufacture of the Waltham watches. These facts I learn from a gen- 
tleman, now residing in New York, who was formerly an officer of the 
Ordnance Department. The terms of this report, and the minuteness of 
the inspection indicate that all had reference to a proposition made at 
that time to transfer the superintendency of the Armories from officers 
of the Ordnance Department to civilians. I have no doubt that the end 
sought by the proposition was that the Armories might be used as a 
means of dispensing political patronage. 

In the spring of 1855 he and Bvt. Brig. Gen. Newman S. Clarke went 
to Fort Riley, in the present State of Kansas, for the purpose of making 
an investigation in relation to the military reservation in and around that 
fort. This, I think, is the most distant point in that direction which my 
father reached. 

Within a brief period prior to March, 1856, the remnant of the In- 
dians still remaining in Florida had murdered a number of the whites, 
and on the 19th of March of that year, my father was directed to furnish 
to the Adjutant General's Office such information as he might acquire in 
relation to Indian affairs during his inspection of the troops serving in 
Florida. The inspection was made in April and May (my mother and a 
colored man servant being with him), and I find the draft of an elaborate 
report upon the subject mentioned, containing an estimate, gained from 
a number of sources, of the number of Indians, the names of their leading 
men, their haunts and reported places of residence, and the methods to 



i^o 



be pursued in protecting the whites, and in pursuing, killing and capturing 
the Indians. The report is very interesting, but I have not space for 
inserting extracts from it. It would be instructive reading, at the present 
time, to any one who should wish to compare the Florida of to-day with 
the Florida of a third of a century ago. 



Note 95. James B. Fry. (Born in and app'd from Ill's.) Cadet, July, 
'43; Bvt. Sec. Lt. 3rd Art, July, '47; Sec. Lt. ist Art., Aug., '47; ist 
Lt., Feb., '51 ; At M. A., as Ass't Ins. of Art., '53-4; and as Adj. ,'54-9; 
Recorder of Board to revise Programme of Studies at M. A., '60; Ass't 
Adj. Gen. (Bvt. Capt.) March, '61 ; Ass't Adj. Gen, (Capt.), Aug., '61 ; 
Col. Staff (add'l Aid de C), '61-4; Ass't Adj. Gen. (Major), April, '62; 
Ass't Adj. Gen. (Lt. Col.), Dec, '62; Col. Staff (Pro. Mar. of the U. S.), 
March, '63; Brig. Gen. Staff (Pro. Mar. of the U. S.), April, '64; Bvt. 
Col. for services at Bull Run (First), March, '65 ; Bvt. Brig. Gen. for 
services at Shiloh and Perrysville, March, '65; Bvt. Maj. Gen. for serv- 
ices in Pro. Mar. Gen.'s Dep't, March, '65; Retired as Colonel, June, '81. 
(Gen. Fry was for a long time on the staff of that able and excellent offi- 
cer, Gen. Don Carlos Buell, who was not appreciated, but, on the con. 
trary, was unjustly suspected and ill-treated by the government.) 



Note 96. There are those who entertain the supposition of a rela- 
tionship between my mother's family and the celebrated physicians, 
brothers, named Hunter, of London. I know of nothing to sustain the 
supposition, and all the facts are opposed to it. William Hunter, one of 
the brothers, was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 171 8; was in Edin- 
burgh in 1740; in London in 1747; and died in 1783. John Hunter, the 
youngest of the children, was born in the same county in 1728 ; studied 
in London in 1749-50; married in 1771, and died in 1793. My grand- 
father was born in 1754. My memoranda do not give the dates and 
places of birth of his father, David, and of his grandfather, Jonathan ; 
but it does appear that the latter was married in Mass. in 1729. As to 
other persons of the name or blood of Hunter in this country I have no 
information, and venture no opinion. 

My grandfather, William Hunter, was a prominent man, and his de- 
scendants may be satisfied with his personal merits. He was in Mont- 
gomery's Army in the War of Independence; a Judge of Probate in 
Windsor County, Vermont ; a Member of the Legislature and of the 
Council of Censors of Vermont (the latter consisting of thirteen persons, 
elected every seven years, to serve one year, whose duty it was to take a 
retrospective view whether the Constitution had been preserved inviolate, 



137 

and of the manner in which all duties had been performed by the legisla- 
tive and executive officers, and, in their discretion, to call a conven- 
tion), and of the U. S. House of Representatives. He lived honored 
and respected, and his good reputation long sunived him. I think that, 
if any one's ancestor displayed exceptional merits, the fact should be an 
incentive to exertion and emulation, and not a ground for pride. 



Note 97. At Elizabethtown, Essex County. New York, nine miles 
from Lake Champlain, resided Dr. Safford E. Hale, a brother of Hon. 
Robert S. Hale, whom I have mentioned. His wife was my father's 
niece. She died in 1871. Dr. Hale still resides at Ehzabethtown. It was 
they whom my parents visited. They were welcome guests, and, with 
the exception of my sister's house, there was no house in which they 
were so much at home, or where they enjoyed themselves so much, as 
at Dr. Hale's. They, who welcomed them so cordially, were hospita- 
ble, generous, genial, and kind-hearted. Each was full of wit and 
humor, and their wit and humor were without severity, and left no stings 
behind. Often, in subsequent years, when sitting on the piazza of the 
house, it was a pleasure to me to recall my mother sitting there, and 
gazing on the beautiful landscape, or my father conversing with Dr. Hale 
concerning some of the numerous projects of farming, or gardening, or 
building a residence in the vicinity, with which his mind was filled. 



Note 98. It is quite remarkable how the fortune (or misfortune) of 
war has varied in different classes. Thus: of the class of '36, forty-nine 
in number, six were killed in battle; of the class of '37, fifty in number, 
seven were killed; of the class of '38, forty-five in number, four were 
killed ; of the class of '39, thirty-one in number, three were killed ; of 
the class of '41, fifty-two in number, fourteen were killed; of the class of 
'42, fifty-six in number, four were killed ; of the class of '43, thirty-nine 
in number, four were killed; and of the class of '44, twenty-five in num- 
ber, seven were killed. I count those who died of wounds among the 
killed. 

No one can examine Gen. CuUom's Register without being struck by 
the fact that, in addition to those killed in battle, a large proportion of the 
graduates of the Military Academy, compared with the same number of 
graduates of colleges, have lost their lives by casualties, such as by 
drowning at sea, or in the inland waters, by being thrown from horses, by 
explosion of steamboat boilers, and the like. It is true that civilians lose 
their lives from the same causes; but it is clear that officers of the 
Army, in the ordinary discharge of their duties, are exposed to unusual 



dangers. Man}', too, have died at posts, which they could not leave, 
from cholera and yellow fever. In the cemetery at St. Augustine I saw 
the graves of a number of young officers, all of whom, as I understood, 
died of yellow fever. 



Note 99. Thomas Childs. (Born in and app'd from Mass.) Cadet, 
April, '13; 3rd Lt. 1st Art., March, '14; Sec. Lt. ist Art., May, '14; 
Transferred to Corps of Art., May, '14; Retained, May, '15; ist Lt., 
April, '18; Asst. Com. Sub., April, '20; 1st Lt. 3rd Art., June, '21; 
Capt., Oct., '26; Bvt. Maj., for planning attack on Indians, and good 
conduct in the affair, Aug., '36; Bvt. Lt. Col., for gallant conduct and 
repeated successes in the war against Indians in Florida, Feb., '41 ; Bvt. 
Col. for conduct in Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, May, 
'46; Maj. 1st Art., Feb., '47; Bvt. Brig. Gen. for defense of Puebla, 
where he commanded, Oct., '47 ; Died at Fort Brooke, Florida, Oct., '53. 
(Frederick L. Childs, a son of Gen. Childs, graduated in '55, and resigned 
in '61, and was in the Confederate Army. A daughter married Daniel P. 
Woodbury, of N. H , who graduated in '36, and died in the service at 
Key West, Aug., '64. Their son, Thomas C. Woodbury, graduated in 
'72, and is now a First Lieut, in the i6th Inf.) 



Note 100. Having retired, entirely, from the practice of my profes- 
sion, and being at the end of all personal participation in the affairs of 
active life, I take pleasure in expressing my high appreciation of the 
beneficial influences exerted by the study and practice of law upon the 
members of the legal profession, and of their general high character as 
a class. My practice was limited, and I was but little known, but the 
practice continued for nearly forty years, and I necessarily had corres- 
ponding experience and opportunities for observation. I consider the legal 
profession, when measured by merely human standards, the best a man 
can follow. Its members necessarily learn to study and decide questions 
on general principles, and in all their bearings. The range of the sub- 
jects, which claim their attention, is as extensive as are the occupations 
and interests of mankind, and they are obliged to carry their inquiries into 
diverse and wide fields. In every community, from the smallest village 
to the largest city, the resident lawyers are among the most important of 
the population. By natural processes they take the lead in politics, 
diplomacy, and legislation. As they study questions abstractly, so, in 
matters of administration, their measures have a wide and comprehen- 
sive scope. I believe that it is admitted that the best Secretaries of the 
Treasury we have had have been lawyers. 



139 

Concerning lawyers personally my recollections are generally agree- 
able. They are free from cant and all forms of humbuggery. Such 
things go for nothing. If a man enters upon the practice of his profes- 
sion possessed by the spirit of conceit, assumption, or vanity, it is soon 
knocked out of him. In matters involving litigation he meets his 
equals, and he knows that even the result of his work in his office may 
soon come before the eyes of other members of the profession and be 
criticised as severely as any brief could be. I have found lawyers, gen- 
erally, to be men of integrity. There are black sheep among them, but 
they are known. There are tricksters among'them, but, even they, as a 
class, are true to their word when once given. Most of them separate 
the important issues of any matter of "litigation from matters formal, 
accidental and non-essential. On those issues they fight hard, and give 
blows, as they are ready to receive them, without stint, but they are not 
strenuous as to the other matters. It is true that there are pettifoggers 
who resort to measures calculated to trip, balk, annoy and delay their 
adversaries, without gaining a point on the merits, but they are known 
by those who occupy the bench as well as by those who sit before it, 
and, being known, they are marked. As a rule, lawyers are a social set, 
and are "good fellows," and this is saying much. 

It used to amuse me, and others, also, to "hear my father introduce 
me, as was his custom, as : " My son, sir, not in the army; a lawyer." 



APPENDICES. 



APPENDIX A, 



But, say some, a portion of them truckling to a low popular senti- 
ment, others excusable on account of their ignorance, and the residue 
fanatics of the '' On to Richmond " class, who place the " earnest " and 
noisy ignoramus above the trained West Pointer, upon whom, because 
he does not sling patriotic rhetoric, they look with suspicion : " It is safe 
to believe that, among the 60,000,000 inhabitants of the United States, 
there are many who possess more military genius than is to be found 
among the few hundred graduates of West Point." No doubt this is so. 
It is as safe to suppose the existence of a village Napoleon as of a village 
Hampden. So, it is safe to suppose the existence of a person whose 
natural legal capacity surpasses that of all the John Marshalls of the 
land combined. For all that he would make a sorry show if pitted in 
Court against an average lawyer. We must have military schools if we 
wish to prosecute war with success, as we have schools of law, of the- 
ology and medicine, of science, of art, and of literature. 

No Ccesar, or Frederick the Great, or Marlborough, or Napoleon, or 
Wellington ever sprung, ready made, from civil life. They, and all great 
soldiers, had long and careful training and experience. Napoleon, possi- 
bly, had less than the others named, but he was so exceptionally great in 
all things, as not to be mentioned as an example. 

There are others, who, conceding the advantages of a military edu- 
cation, assert that the learning acquired at West Point enured quite as 
much to the benefit of the Confederate States as it did to that of the 
United States. It would be sufficient to dismiss this assertion by saying 
that the Civil War is a thing of the past, and that nothing like it will 
ever occur again, did it not include the idea that a system, which edu- 
cates a person as a soldier, tends, directly, to suppress the feeling of 
patriotism, and to make him a mere mercenaiy. Many of those, who 
have made this assertion, know that the fact is not as they state it, and 
it is useless to argue with them and such as they, but, as to others, if 
they will take the trouble to read the Preface to Gen. CuUom's " Biograph- 
ical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military Acad- 

[141] 



142 

emy," and the statistics in the same work, they will see that the asser- 
tion is entirely without foundation. I cannot go into details, and must 
limit myself to stating a few facts which this work makes apparent. Of 
the 99 graduates, who went from civil life, at the South, as I under- 
stand, into the Confederate service, all but one were born in or were 
residents of slave States. Of 350 graduates, born in, or appointed from 
slave States, who were in the Army at the time of secession, but about 
one-halfwent into the Confederate service, in which they were joined by 
16 from the free States, making, in all, 184, while the rest, and all from 
the free States except the 16, remained loyal. Of the 292 loyal grad- 
uates, who were in civil life, at the North, as I understand, at the time 
of secession, 115 entered the military service of the United States, in- 
cluding two-sevenths of those who were over 45 years old, and all below 
that age, except 39, who, from disability and other causes, did not 
take an active part in the war, though many performed useful services in 
civil capacities requiring military knowledge, while others, who tendered 
their services, were unable to obtain commissions. It should be re- 
membered that appointments to cadetships are according to the repre- 
sentation of the several States in the House of Representatives, to which 
are added a few appointments "at large." Of the 1249 graduates, sup- 
posed to be living at the time of secession, over three-fourths remained 
loyal, more than the proportion of graduates from the loyal States. It 
may be added, in order to show what the graduates, who served in bat- 
tle, did for the Union, that one-fifth were killed, and more than one- 
third, and, probably, one-half, wounded. The fact just stated, while it 
does not prove anything in favor of the person who was killed cr 
wounded, against another, who stood or moved by his side, but was not 
hit, does prove that the West Pointers were in posts of danger. 

If it should be said, as it has been often said, that men, educated gra- 
tuitously by the United States, had no right to "rebel," the answer is 
that they claimed that they were not " rebels," that a State has a right 
to secede ot its own will, and to decide when it will exercise this right, 
and that, when a State secedes, the question arises whether a person's 
paramount allegiance is due to the State of his birth or residence or to 
the United States. These were legal questions, which each graduate 
was obliged to solve for himself, and no one had or has a right to doubt 
his sincerity in coming to a conclusion. The graduate from Virginia, 
for instance, believed that he was educated at West Point by Virginia, 
acting with other States, each of which had a right to secede and to 
judge of the time and occasion, and that she had paramount claims upon 
her sons; and, if his theory and reasoning were correct, we cannot quar- 
rel with his conclusions. I have, in good faith, endeavored to under- 
stand the grounds of the theory, and to see the force of the reasoning, 
but without success. In appealing to the sword, merely on an appre- 



143 

hension of danger, the Seceding States assumed a fearful responsibility 
and with results disastrous to themselves. That, for many years, they 
had been insulted and abused and uncharitably criticised, their internal 
peace threatened and jeopardized, and their constitutional rights largely 
ignored, on account of the existence of an institution for the inception 
and establishing of which they were no more responsible than were the 
people of the Northern States, an institution which had necessarily be- 
come a part of their organizations, social, industrial and political, and 
which seemed to be irremovable and remediless, I do not doubt. That 
common honesty and fairness required that those, who were not willing 
to perform the conditions of the constitutional contract, should agree to 
a peaceable separation, and not proclaim themselves " the party of high 
moral ideas " as a justification for violating those conditions, and for 
declining to cherish that fraternal spirit, without the existence of which 
a happy union was not possible, or any union desirable, I, also, do not 
doubt. In the end there were folly, violence, outrages, and aggressions 
on the other side, resulting in no benefit to the South, alienating the 
Democrats of the North, and leading, naturally, to the formation of the 
Free Soil and Republican parties. Finally ensued one of the most skill- 
fully managed political proceedings of which I ever read. A small but 
active minority in the Southern States, bent upon secession, so manipu- 
lated events that there could be no step backward, and that the next 
step in advance became a necessity and led to another. The deliberate 
and carefully considered judgment of the people, " the sober, second 
thought of the people," was not sought, obtained, or given. The course 
pursued prevented any such judgment being formed or made known. 
Unfortunately, the South Carolinians, the fanatics of the South, took the 
lead. The wiser, more deliberate, and considerate people of Virginia, 
of English origin and with English traditions, a State to which, I think, 
we are more indebted for our institutions than to all the other original 
States combined, did not determine, as would have been well, whether 
there should be any action and what it should be. 

Secession, to use the mildest language, was a dire mistake. The 
Southern States should have fought their battle in the Union and under 
the Constitution. They should have waited, after the election in i860, 
for some act of national legislation hostile to their rights. I firmly be- 
lieve that none would have been proposed by even a small minority, and 
that, had any such proposition been made, it would have been over- 
whelmingly defeated by the votes of the Southern members and of mem- 
bers from the North of both parties. Free Soil, alone, would have been 
secured, by legislation, forever. Had there been any hostile legislation 
and action under it, the Southern States would have found allies in the 
Northern Democracy, barely a minority of the people of the North, and 
rightly claiming, as its own, the honorable history of the past. But, in- 



144 

stead of adopting this course, they resorted to acts of war, and compelled 
the Democrats of the North to be "enemies in war."' When peace came, 
the same Democrats were '* in peace, friends," and did not doubt the 
good faith of those who accepted the results, bitter though they were, 
and did not exact or expect declarations from the secessionists that they 
were sorry for what they had done, and rather liked the flavor of humble 
pie. I believe that the vast majority of the Southern people, although 
they justly regarded the measures of reconstruction, and, especially, 
much of the military rule, the invasion and rule of the "carpet-baggers," 
and the subjection of the whites to the blacks, as unnecessary, cruel and 
vindictive, hrave always accepted the result of the war in good faith, and 
that they are now perfectly content. On my own part, I regard our 
Union and Constitution as the greatest work of man, and, therefore, I 
the more warmly condemned any attempt, in whatever part of the coun- 
try made, to destroy or weaken either. I see no reason why the civilized 
nations of the world should not be united on the plan of our Union. 

While on the subject of secession, it is well to call attention to the 
fact that the idea of secession was not a novelty in i860. It had been 
broached at various times. There were projects for separation in Ken- 
tucky before 1795, 3-nd in Western Pennsylvania, at the time of the Whis- 
key Insurrection, from 1792 to 1795. It was threatened in New England 
when the acquisition of Louisiana was proposed, and for years after- 
wards. In January, 181 1, Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, a Federalist, 
when speaking in the House of Representatives on the Louisiana en- 
abling act, which became a law February 20th, 181 1, said: "It is my 
deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are 
virtually dissolved; that the States, which compose it, are free from their 
moral obligations, and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the 
duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation, amicably if they can, 
violently if they must." He was called to order, but the House decided 
that he was in order. Ex-President Adams, in reply to a copy of this 
speech, could only say that ; " Prophecies of division had been familiar 
in his ears for six andthirty years." See Article on Secession and the 
Article on Louisiana in the Cyclopaedia of Political Science, &c., men- 
tioned in the Sketch. Jefferson Davis and others did what Josiah 
Quincy and others asserted it would be the duty of some as it would be 
the right of all of the States to do. Josiah Quincy died full of years and 
honors, and the political heirs of the party to which he belonged canon- 
ized that midnight assassin and murderer, that would-be inciter of ser- 
vile insurrection, John Brown, as a saint and martyr, threatened to 
"hang Jeff. Davis on a sour apple tree," claimed for themselves a patent 
for loyalty, and branded as disloyal the Democrats of the Northern States, 
and mainly for the reason that they insisted that the war should be pros- 



145 

ecuted, under the Constitution, for the Union, and that, in the loyal 
States, the Constitution should be respected and observed. 

I have often thought it singular that, among the Constitutional 
amendments, recently adopted, there was not one declaring the alleged 
right of secession as without ground. Perhaps this was not necessary or 
expedient. Facts are more important and significant than declarations. 
The results of the Civil War proved that the people of the United States 
consider the Union as paramount to all things else. Their love of the 
Union had not been appreciated by themselves or the world. It was 
manifested, when secession came, in a manner which amazed us, and 
taught a lesson, not to be forgotten, to other nations. If the people of 
the North were not substantially united, in act and spirit, at all times 
during the war and till the end, the fault lay with the party in power. 
Would that the affairs of the country could always have been adminis- 
tered by the party, which, from the beginning, has understood and been 
animated by the spirit of the Constitution and the genius of the whole 
people. May it be always so administered hereafter. 

Aside, entirely, from the legal question of the right of secession, the 
fact stated by Gen. Cullom, that but one-half of the graduates of the 
Academy, from the South, who were in the army when secession took 
place, went into the Confederate service, proves that the infiuences ex- 
erted by an education at West Point were in favor of the Union, and did 
not weaken the sentiment of patriotism, or tend to make mercenaries. 

There are objections to the system of education in force at W^st 
Point and to its influences, which differ entirely from those to which I 
have referred, and which it is opportune to mention. The institution is 
unique in its character; a small proportion only of the cadets are above 
the middle class of the communities from which they come, in social 
position and antecedents ; all of them live in a position of isolation and 
study for the same object ; the course of instruction and study is Hmited 
and one-sided, and, if the graduates continue in the army, the isolation 
largely remains, though generally, and often very much, modified, by 
travel, changes of station, and varying social surroundings. The result 
of this condition of affairs is a disposition, in the minds of cadets and 
graduates, to overestimate the West Point course, and to underrate the 
curricula pursued in the universities and colleges of the United States. 
I have so often noticed the manifestations of this disposition that I am 
satisfied that it is the result of the course of instruction, and not merely 
the expression of individual opinions independently formed. Some 
years since I read what purported to be an address delivered to the 
members of the graduating class, in which the speaker advised them not 
to look down upon their fellow-citizens. It is not to be supposed that, 
by their fellow-citizens, he meant the unlettered masses of the people. 
If the speaker thought that the ideas of the graduates were without 
lo 



foundation, and wished to give them good advice, he should have ex- 
pressed his opinion without reserve ; whereas the advice merely served 
to confirm their ideas of superiority. I am much better informed than 
most civilians concerning West Point, and its graduates, and I have a 
fair knowledge of the scope and results of university and college teach- 
ing, and I am satisfied that the graduates of West Point should look 
upon liberally educated men with respect and with upward gla7ices, and 
would do so if they were aware of their own deficiencies. There is this 
to be said, it is true, that, whereas almost any one could "go through 
college " in former years (and I do not know that such is not the case at 
present), a cadet must reach a required, and that, a high, standing, or 
leave the Academy, and that, therefore, all the graduates are "honor 
men.'' But, there is little in the course of instruction at West Point 
which tends to make the cadets citizens of " The Republic of Letters," 
the most ancient and widely spread and comprehensive of Republics, 
and which is sure to continue till the end of time. On the other hand, 
the opportunities and advantages of students in universities and col- 
leges, as compared with those of the cadets, are very great. While the 
cadets are educated at the expense of the Government, without which 
probably many of them might not receive an education, the students in 
the other institutions generally have parents who are above the middle 
classes of the community, who understand the importance of an educa- 
tion, and are able to educate their sons, or, at least, to pay a portion of 
their expenses while obtaining an education. In their studies the stu- 
dents are naturally brought, to some extent, in contact with the master 
minds of various ages and countries, and they acquire, almost uncon- 
sciously, a taste for literature. They have some knowledge of current 
events and tendencies in other literary institutions. The Greek Letter 
Societies, and even the rowing and other athletic organizations, act as a 
means of intercourse with such institutions. In after life they meet the 
graduates of many colleges. Those v/ho adopt professional pursuits 
largely extend their spheres of study and inquiry. There are few who 
do not retain a taste for general reading, and many become devoted to 
literary pursuits. As to the relative importance of the teaching at West 
Point of certain branches of education as compared with the teaching of 
the same branches at other institutions, it should be mentioned that 
there have been great changes in recent years. I remember that, when 
the construction of railroads began in this country, the graduates from 
West Point were considered the best qualified for any enterprise calling 
for engineering skill, that, consequently, there was a great demand for 
the graduates, and that many resignations of young officers were the 
result. At the present time, if I am correctly informed, there are several 
scientific schools in the country, in which everything, which the civil en- 



147 

gineer, the architect, the chemist, and others need know, is taught even 
more extensively and thoroughly than at West Point. 

My interest in the Academy and the Army lead me to add that I re- 
gret to notice that appointments to cadetships are frequently conferred 
by means of competitive examinations which are limited to testing the 
acquirements of the candidates. This system relieves Members of Con- 
gress of responsibility, annoyance, and the probability of making ene- 
mies, but I think that it is wrong. I believe, thoroughly, in civil ser\'ice 
reform, and, more than that, permanency of civil tenure. The reform, 
though there seems to have been an undue pedantic spirit in shaping its 
framework, and though there seems to be an undue martinet spirit in 
administering the system, is shown to be wise in theory and beneficial in 
the results. The other system has made the body politic rotten, and 
tends to create, not statesmen, but professional politicians, great and 
small, whose sole object it is to obtain for themselves and their followers, 
offices and spoils, and, often, plunder. But, in my opinion, cadetships 
should not be conferred by means of the processes applicable to the 
civil service. The cadet's acquirements will be tested at West Point. 
In conferring appointments regard should be had to the tendencies, dis- 
positions, tastes, and general morale of the candidates, and their social 
positions, antecedents and surroundings, and those of their families. I 
think that the sons of gentlemen should be appointed ; not mere " money- 
bags," but gentlemen, whether rich or poor, fashionable and conspicu- 
ous, or plain and lowly. People gentle in instinct and in grain, and 
refined through life by favoring circumstances, are numerous and easily 
found. The men among such people are what I term getiilemen. Fur- 
ther than this, I think that it would be well to continue families in the 
Army from generation to generation in the appointment of cadets. 

I do not intend to convey the impression that it is my opinion that an 
education received at West Point is the sole, or, necessarily, the best 
preparation for a military life which can be obtained. I merely wish to 
urge the importance of a due preparation, and I refer to the results of 
the instruction received at West Point as proofs which support my prop- 
osition. There are now numerous officers of the Army, not graduates, 
who are as well qualified as could be desired for the discharge of the 
duties pertaining to the branches of the service to which they belong. 
At all times there have been officers who were appointed from civil life, 
and the history of the Army shows that such officers were not inferior to 
any in the same branches of the service. But, I do not doubt that every 
one of those officers regretted that he was not better prepared than was 
the case, at the outset, for the discharge of his duties. I often heard my 
father thus express himself, and I know that he had recourse to every 
means within his reach to supply the deficiency. Appleton's Cyclopaedia 
states that General (then Captam) Scott passed the year of his suspen- 



148 

sion by sentence of Court Martial, in 180S-9, in studying tactics. The 
officers appointed from civil life, who are now high in rank in the Army, 
were not lifted at once, and without preparation, to the positions to 
which they were appointed. They won their commissions by their 
merits, and had proved, in the civil war, that they were soldiers. 

That all other things being equal between individuals, the Military 
Academy is now the best source of supply for officers of the Army, I 
think all will admit; but it is not absolutely, and under all circumstances, 
the best, and still less the only source. Given a well appointed Army, 
including, especially, a well organized staff, and the officers might all be 
appointed from civil life, except those whose duties require special 
preparation, scientific as well as military. But, in order that there should 
be no deterioration in the standard of the service, great care should be 
exercised in making the selections. The qualifications of candidates, 
their attainments, character, antecedents, and manners should be ascer- 
tained, and the best should receive the commissions. It is not merely in 
the interest of the service at large that I urge this care in making selec- 
tions. I have in mind the interest of the enlisted men. A gentleman is 
never more of a gentleman than in his dealings with those who are his 
inferiors in rank. Soldiers are accurate observers and severe critics. I 
have heard of their using such expressions as, " he is not a gentleman ; 
he is a nigger-driver." I think that suitable studies should be required 
of officers appointed from civil life, and that there should be examinations 
for promotion of «// officers; those examinations not to be conducted in 
the spirit of the martinet or the pedagogue, but by officers possessed of 
common-sense and broad views. 

For the reasons which I have already stated, I think that an infusion 
into the Army of liberally educated gentlemen from private life would be 
of service. The companionship between them and the West Pointers 
would be an advantage to both classes. 

Each system of preparation has its merits and demerits. The educa- 
tion received in the camp or the garrison tends to " pipe-clay ; " that de- 
rived from books to pedantry. Each tendency is good ; the extremes 
are injurious. I have seen the manifestations of the tendencies in all 
their degrees. 

It is not always the result of giving a military education to a boy that 
he is made a soldier. I have known graduates who were entirely out of 
place in the Army. I remember one who stood very well in his class, of 
whom it was said by another graduate that the only military duty which 
he ever performed well was the tendering of his resignation. 

I think that the conferring of commissions upon enlisted men is 
an excellent practice. It at least serves as an incentive to the en- 
listed men, and teaches all, officers and men, that there is not a bar- 



149 

rier over which the latter cannot pass. I venture the suggestion that it 
would be an additional incentive to the enlisted men if the names of 
those who have been retired should be published in the Army Register. 
In order that this should be done, an Act of Congress might be neces- 
sary, though, possibly, a regulation of the War Department would 
suffice. 



151 



APPENDIX B. 

The language used by those, who criticised slaveholders, fairly jus- 
tifies any one in forming the opinion that they intended to charge those 
who introduced slavery into the country, and those who, finding the sys- 
tem established, continued it, with sinning against their own consciences, 
and as being willing to "shock the conscience of civilization." They 
took, as their standard of conscience and morality, the judgment of 
"this enlightened nineteenth century," as formulated and expressed by 
themselves. Admitting their authority in the premises, it may be asked 
whether the judgment of the present century upon any topic is irreform- 
able of itself, and, therefore, final. Such is not, generally, understood to 
be the case. Many thoughtful persons see grounds for intense anxiety 
concerning the probable results of some of the tendencies and practices 
of the times, and the more so for the reason that they are not accidental 
or superficial, but because they are inherent and organic, and the nec- 
essary and legitimate results of ideas and principles now existing. 
Should some man of learning in the year 2oco, with all the records of 
the past before him, publish a book entitled " Looking backward," the 
picture presented by him might be as severe a criticism of the nineteenth 
century as that contained in a recent work of fiction having the same 
title. Moreover, the work of fiction relates mainly to the material con- 
ditions of the present day ; the supposed author would have a wider 
scope and treat of morals and religion as well as of material conditions. 
It would be well for us, when discussing past centuries, to be a little 
modest, if we can. 

Further than this, admitting that the standard of the present day is 
correct, it is but fair that, when an opinion is expressed concerning the 
introduction of slavery into the British Colonies, and its subsequent con- 
tinuance in the Colonies and the United States, the opinions and prac- 
tices of contemporaneous times should be considered. Charity requires 
that this should be done. In former times the slave trade, as well as 
slavery, was quite commonly recognized as a lawful occupation. James 
W. Gerard, in his interesting work entitled : " The Peace of Utrecht," 
states that, on the first of May, 1713, a compact, afterwards ratified by 
a formal treaty, was made between the English and Spanish Govern- 
ments, to the effect that an English Company, under the patronage of 
Queen Anne, was to have a monopoly to supply the Spanish West Indies 
with negro slaves^ for the space of thirty years, to the extent of 144,000 
negroes, at the rate of 4,800 yearly. In order that it may be seen that 
the royal assent was not given as a mere formality, while, possibly, the 



152 

private views of the Sovereign revolted against the contract, it may be 
added that Mr. Gerard further states that the Queen, the two Ministers 
and Lady Masham were to have a share in the profits of the enterprise. 
If, in the negotiations which resulted in a peace made in the cause of 
humanity, and in which all Europe was interested, it was deemed impor- 
tant to secure this monopoly by one of the several treaties, which, 
unitedly, constituted the general treaty, it can be readily understood 
what was the Ime of action of Queen Anne and the two Ministers and 
Lady Masham concerning supplying the British Colonies with negro 
slaves. For that purpose a treaty was not necessary, and the Queen 
could give the monopoly to whom she.chose, and dictate who, in addition 
to herself, should share in the profits. It is well known that some of the 
Colonial Governors were instructed to render assistance to the English 
companies engaged in the importation of slaves. Not only were English 
companies engaged in the trade. In 1636 a Salem ship began the im- 
portation of negro slaves from the West Indies, and thereafter Pequot 
Indian slaves were constantly exchanged for negroes from the Bar- 
badoes. 

The colonists, generally, had no desire that slavery should be estab- 
lished among them. The system was not in accord with their tastes and 
customs. There was no branch of industry so important as to make it 
desirable that there should be a large class of persons in the community 
who could not rise above manual labor of the rudest kind. It is true 
that tobacco was the most valuable agricultural product, as a subject of 
commerce, but it never had the importance which cotton afterwards ac- 
quired. The culture of tobacco, with other causes, made Virginia the 
richest, most populous, and most influential of the Colonies. It re- 
sulted in much direct trade and intercourse between Virginia and the 
mother country. A large proportion of the Virginians, who rose to dis- 
tinction in the agitations which preceded the War of Independence, and 
in the war itself, had been educated in England at the Universities and 
elsewhere. In view of all these circumstances and the fact that there 
was an established church in Virginia, an outgrowth of the Church of 
England, and that its clergy were Tories almost without exception, it is 
quite remarkable that the people were generally Whigs. Perhaps one 
reason was that they had been staunch supporters of the Stuarts, and 
regarded the members of the House of Hanover as intruders, A narra- 
tive which I had from a gentleman, a native of Virginia, led me to under- 
stand that his grandfather was the only Episcopalian clergyman who was 
not a Tory, and he attributed this to the fact that he was a supporter of 
the Stuarts, was engaged, though not of age, in the Battle of Culloden, 
in the Army of Charles Edward, afterwards studied at au English Uni- 
versity, was ordained, came to Virginia, and settled in or near W^illiams- 
burgh, and, during his entire life, was unfriendly to the House of Han- 



^53 

over. It is a curious fact, however, that the adherents of the Stuarts, 
who fled to America, and settled in North Carolina, were Tories. 

The fact remains that, after making due allowance for all local or 
class influences in favor of the importation of negro slaves, the mass of 
the people of the Colonies were opposed to it. It is sufficient evidence 
of this fact that the Continental Congress in 1774 resolved to discontinue 
the slave trade, in which resolution it was anticipated by the Conventions 
of Delegates of Virginia and North Carolina. A fact, probably not gen- 
erally known, may be mentioned here, that the Constitution of the Con- 
federate States forbade "the importation of negroes of the African race, 
from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories 
of the United States of America." The draft of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, prepared by Jefferson, made the slave trade one of the 
grounds of complaint, but the clause was omitted from the Declaration 
as adopted. Upon this point Jefferson wrote in his Memoir as follows: 
" The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, 
was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had 
never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who, on the 
contrary, still wished to continue it;" and further: "Our Northern 
brethren also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures; for, 
though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been 
pretty considerable carriers of them to others." I make this statement 
on the authority of a letter appearing in The Evening Post, and purport- 
ing to be written by Prof. Alexander Johnston, of Princeton. The Con- 
stitution of the United States provided that Congress should not prohibit 
the importation, before 1808, of such persons as any of the States then 
existing should think proper to admit, but Congress passed laws prohibit- 
ing the carrying of slaves by American citizens from one country to an- 
other, and the introduction of slaves into states which had forbidden the 
slave trade. Finally Congress, by Act of March 2nd, 1807, prohibited 
the importation of slaves after the close of the year. The number of 
slaves imported from 1787 to 1808 is not known, and the estimates differ. 
Charleston alone, in the four years, 1804-7, imported 39,075, consigned 
to 91 British subjects, 88 citizens of Rhode Island^ 10 French subjects, 
and 13 natives of Charleston. The whole number of negroes imported 
at all times into the British Colonies and the United States did not exceed 
375,000 to 400,000. Small additions were made to the number of slaves 
by illegal importations (few in number, and but one case of the arrival of 
a slave vessel, that of the yacht Wanderer, is certaitily known) and the 
acquisitions of Florida and Louisiana. The slaves in Texas were un- 
doubtedly all from the United States, by birth or origin. Substantially, 
the 5,000,000 colored persons, who resided in the United States in 1870, 
were the descendants of those imported before 1808. 

It was certainly a fortunate circumstance that the cotton gin, or its 



15^ 

equivalent, was not in use before Eli Whitney, of Connecticut, invented 
it in 1793 in Georgia, where he resided. Had the invention been made 
twenty years sooner, the history of the slave trade and slavery would not 
have been what it is. The difference between the separation of five or 
six pounds or one thousand pounds of cotton from their seeds by a slave 
in one day was soon manifested. Within five years after Whitney's in- 
vention cotton supplanted indigo as the great Southern staple, and in 
eleven years the exportation of cotton increased nearly eighty-fold. 
Moreover, the former slave States, by exceptional conditions of soil and 
climate, have, so far, proved to be better adapted for the cultivation of 
cotton than any country in the world. 

Contrast the state of affairs in the United States with that in those 
countries where there was a constant and increasing demand for slave la- 
bor, and the importation of slaves was not prohibited. To the slave- 
holder in the United States the birth of a slave was an increase of his 
capital, and, if for no other purpose than to consult his own interest, he 
raised the infant with care, and sought to prolong its life in health and 
strength. Every one, who knows the facts, knows that, as a general 
thing, the slaves were not overworked, and were carefully treated. In the 
West Indies and South America the planter, not being restricted to the 
slow process of raisitig his slaves, found that he could better maintain a 
sufificient supply of labor by importing negroes — adults, or nearly grown. 
Moreover, the negroes imported were mostly males, a fact that had a bad 
effect upon the moral condition of the slave population, and made further 
importations necessary. In these importations American vessels from 
Northern ports were largely, and probably, in most cases, engaged. The 
result of the system is seen in the fact that, prior to 1833, when emanci- 
pation took place in the British West Indies, 1,700,000 negroes had been 
imported into those islands, and that their descendants numbered but 
660,000 in that year. It is reasonable to believe that, under a system 
such as that described, and especially when many of the owners of the 
plantations were absentees, as was the case, slaves were often over- 
worked and treated with cruelty. I have no statistics or specific facts 
as to the Spanish or French West Indies, or Brazil. In those tropical 
countries the culture of sugar cane and the coffee tree was always profit- 
able, and this circumstance could not fail to have an effect upon the slave 
trade and slavery. 

The facts which I have stated prove that, so far as the mtroduction 
of slavery into the British Colonies and its gaining a footing among the 
people are concerned, the responsibility rested upon all parts of the 
country. 

As to the abolition of slavery, after the institution had become a part of 
the social, industrial, and political system of the community, it could not be 
destroyed at once, and as a part of the ordinary current of events. Slavery 



155 

is not, in itself, or intrinsically, a sin, and not necessarily an evil. Conse- 
quently, in maintaining it, slaveholders were not sanctioning or practising 
a system inherently wrong. But, it is not consistent with the highest and 
best organization of society. It has its defects and objectionable features, 
and so had villanage and serfdom, and the fact that these defects and 
features existed is no reason why the system should be removed in a day 
or at the cost of a social upheaval. With us the matter was complicated 
by the problem what were to be the relations, after emancipation, of the 
two races in a country where, politically, classes were not known, and all 
were equal in the sight of the law .'' This is a problem yet to be solved; 
one worthy of anxious thought, and which must be met and answered. 

Many Southerners, seeing the evils and disadvantages of slavery, de- 
sired to find a way out of the difficulty, and, not finding it, wished that a 
way would open itself. Many are on record in these respects. It is 
idle, after the event, to surmise what would have been the issue of these 
desires and tendencies. That the action of the abolitionists had any 
moral effect in emancipating the slave, I do not believe; that it made his 
condition worse, I know. It is true that their professed sentiments were 
in harmony with the sentiments of the times, and sentiments growing 
stronger and becoming more widely diffused, but their action was, at 
best, that of a fanatical, blind, and headlong philanthropy, and one 
largely infidel in its spirit, in that it was not content to await the effects 
of this growing sentiment, and to permit events to shape themselves un- 
der the Supreme Being. On the contrary, philanthropy of that type 
tends to make the advocates of any movement deify their prejudices and 
opinions ; in other words, deify themselves. That the agitation of the 
matter of emancipation was one of the causes which led to the civil war, 
I admit; but I do not see how any one can find a ground for self-satis- 
faction in the thought that he participated in producing a result so fear- 
ful. That, in my opinion, is all that the abolitionists ever accomplished 
toward the abolition of slavery. 

The issuing of the Proclamation of Emancipation had two effects. 
One was that it tended to conciliate those in all parts of the world who 
shared in the sentiments of the times concerning slavery, to which I have 
referred, and, possibly, prevented the intervention of foreign power; and 
the other was that it secured to the Administration, for the further pros- 
ecution of the war, the support of those who had begun to grow luke- 
warm. It secured their votes as an expression of their support. But it 
did not produce all the results which were expected by some persons. 
Mr. Lincoln received the promise that, if he would issue the proclama- 
tion, " the volunteers would swarm along the highways." The procla- 
mation was issued, but there was no swarming of volunteers. Substi- 
tutes were still in demand, and the rate of bounties was not reduced. 
On the other hand, the issuing of the proclamation tended to alienate 



15=3 

those who had been generous supporters of a war for the Union. Had 
the Union been preserved without the abohtion of slavery, slavery would 
have received a serious, and, probably, a fatal blow. There would never 
have been a consent that any slave, who had been, in fact, free within 
the Union lines, should be re-enslaved, and the slaves within the Con- 
federate lines, having heard of freedom, would never again have been 
content as in former years. The result would have been the same if the 
Seceding States had achieved their independence. No military or police 
forces on earth, working on both sides of the line, could have enforced a 
fugitive slave law among a people once released from constitutional obli- 
gations to discharge a duty which it had been repugnant to their feelings 
to discharge. It always seemed strange to me that the secessionists 
were so blind as not to see this, and not to understand that the best de- 
gree of safety for the " peculiar institution" lay in the Union. 

The most objectionable feature of slavery, and one which invited at- 
tack and presented a vulnerable point, was that it involved the severing 
of family ties, the separation of parents and children and of husband and 
wife. Marriage, whatever degree of sanctity was attached to it, had 
ever the element of being of a transient nature. This fact necessarily 
had a demoralizing result. It is true that practice was better than the 
ordinary legal status of master and slave. Slave owners encouraged 
matrimony, such as it was, from the best of motives, and because it 
tended to good morals and good order and to their own advantage. 
Legislation, in some States, local customs, and the efforts of individuals 
united to mitigate the evil; but, in spite of all this, the evil remained. 

To this condition of things all the various religious denominations in 
the South, though they included, under their several names, all the peo- 
ple, succumbed. When a slave husband and wife were separated, the fact 
was regarded as an abandonment, and each party was at liberty to form 
new relations. Many years ago I read, and I believed the statement to 
be well founded, that the Southern Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, seeing the evil, and desiring to remove or mitigate it, conferred 
informally among themselves concerning the adoption of measures point- 
ing in that direction, but that, owing to the excited and sensitive condi- 
tion of the Southern people, caused by the action of the abolitionists, 
they came to the conclusion that the measures were impracticable, or 
that it was not opportune to attempt to introduce them. Certain it is 
that those denominations were not able to grapple with the subject. 

In the religious denominations I, of course, do not include the 
Catholic Church. But Catholics were not numerous except in Maryland 
and Louisiana, in which their social influence was great, and, apparent- 
ly, in no State did they constitute a majority of the people. In most of 
the States the Catholic Church was but little known beyond the limits of 
the principal cities. Consequently, it did not exert an influence upon 



^0/ 

any owners and slaves other than those who were its own adherents. 
How Its influence would have been regarded if it had been exerted, is a 
mere matter of surmise. My friend, Algernon S. Sullivan, lately de- 
ceased, told me that he had heard gentlemen of Virginia say that they 
would not like to see the Catholic Church gain a footing m the slave 
population, for the reason that the result would be the creation of a third 
and mdependent class, and one exercising a great influence, between the 
owners and the slaves. Those ideas were akin to that once expressed to 
me by a Protestant gentleman, who said that, if his wife were a Cath- 
olic, he would not like her to go to confession. It is, of course, impos- 
sible to argue against such opinions, founded, as they are, upon erro- 
neous ideas. No doubt those Virginians did not know that no influence 
has ever done so much to ameliorate the condition of those held in serv- 
itude, whether known as villains, serfs, or slaves, as has that of the Cath- 
olic Church, and that that influence has not tended to cause commotion 
or insubordination in respect to lawful authority. 

The Catholics of the South, white and colored, owner and slave, re- 
ceived the same Sacraments, and knew that a marriage, properly con- 
tracted, was indissoluble. On account of the lax notions prevailing among 
others, embarrassing questions often arose. The late Bishop Lynch, 
Catholic Bishop of Charleston, told me that the colored people attached 
v:.rious degrees of importance to the binding effects of the marriage cer- 
emony, whether the person officiating was white or colored, a clergyman, 
white or colored, or a layman. Those distinctions were not, of them- 
selves, of any importance in his eyes. But other circumstances were of 
importance, and he said that a colored couple never came to him to be 
married that his heart did not sink at the contemplation of the necessity 
of ascertaining the facts as to any former relation of either of the persons, 
and the difficulty of ascertaining them. It sometimes happened that a 
Catholic husband and wife were separated for life by the sale of one of 
them, and then the future condition of each was very trying. The late 
Father Hamilton, of Savannah, told me in that city, in the fall of 1868, 
that he had known of such separations; that naturally, the new owner of 
the slave desired that he or she should re-marry, and that they (the 
priests) had exerted themselves to find a purchaser w-ho would not urge 
the matter. He told me, further, that Catholic slaves, as a class, had a 
higher market value than others. One of his narratives is worth re- 
peating. He said that, at one time, when traveling in a remote part of 
the country, he received a message from a gentleman requesting him to 
call upon a slave who wished to see him. He found that the man was 
from Maryland or Virginia, and was a Catholic, as was his wife ; that he 
had been sold and taken South, and had pleased the person who then 
owned him so well that he had been entrusted with the care of a mill ; 
that for some years there had been communications between him and his 



i.SS 



wife, but that they had ceased, and he did not know whether she was 
still living ; that for many years he had not seen a Catholic priest, and that 
he had not re-married and had lived in perfect purity. " Truly," said 
Father Hamilton, in closing his narrative " he was a saint in ebony." 

We "Anglo-Saxons " think ourselves superior to the rest of mankind 
in so many respects that, possibly, it may be a shock to our self-conceit 
to learn that, in the matter of African slavery in the Western Hemi- 
sphere, we were inferior to those who are not of our boasted origin. I 
can write with confidence of the slaves in Cuba only^ but it is safe to 
infer that the conditions prevailing there prevailed throughout the Span- 
ish West Indies and in Brazil. My informant is an intelligent gentle- 
man, a native of South America, of Spanish origin, a lawyer by profes- 
sion, and who resided and practiced his profession for twenty-five years 
in Cuba. He has been much in Europe, and, of course, is thoroughly 
familiar with what is known to lawyers as the Civil Law. What I have 
heretofore written concerning the inducements which existed for import- 
ing slaves into Cuba, the undue proportion of males imported and the 
results of those facts should be borne in mind. 

In Cuba the Sacraments of the Catholic Church applied to owner and 
slave alike. Therefore, marriage between slaves was indissoluble, and 
under the laws the legal status of husband and wife and parents and chil- 
dren were the same as if they were white. In reality, however, marriages 
were but few in number. Contrary to what was the condition of affairs 
in our Slave States, the usages of the slaves were not on a level with the 
legal rights of which all could avail themselves. In any case of cruelty, 
ill treatment, or want of proper care and support, the slave had a right to 
call his owner into court and the matter was tried and judgment ren- 
dered as in the case of any other litigants. A slave could own property 
of any kind, our distinction of real and personal property not being 
known, could receive it by gift, will, or otherwise, and so dispose of it. 
He could make a contract of any kind concerning his property. He had 
a right to purchase himself, and, if his owner and he once agreed upon 
the price, the owner could not demand a higher price thereafter. If they 
could not agree, the price was determined by a proper tribunal, and the 
decision was binding upon both parties. It was one of the duties of a pub- 
lic official, known as a Syndic, to represent and protect the slave in all 
legal proceedings. Though the laws did not forbid the sale, by the 
owner, of the children of his slaves, the customs of society, which were 
potent and could not be ignored, and the courts, whenever the matter 
came before them incidentally, forbade the practice, and the prohibition 
applied to all slave children, whether their parents were sacramentally 
married or otherwise. My informant tells me that the Cubans regarded 
the practices prevailing in the United States, as to the separation of hus- 
band and wife, the sale of children, and the rearing of children for sale. 



159 

as cruel in the extreme. In referring to the contrast presented by the 
two systems, I cannot but refer again to the inability or disinclmation of 
the religious denominations in the South to grapple with the subject of 
slavery, and to remove its repulsive features. The majority of the ad- 
herents of the religious denominations of the North asserted that they 
could not listen to a compromise with what they deemed a sin, and, con- 
sequently, their influence did not tend to ameliorate the condition of the 
slave or to the gradual extinguishment of slavery. 

Slavery is at an end in Cuba. The voluntary acts of owners have 
co-operated with the proceedings of the government. The slaves have 
been manumitted by degrees, and the system has disappeared gradually. 
There has been no violence or revolution, or social disorder, and no dis- 
turbance of the industries of the Island. In Brazil slavery is approach- 
ing an end ; and there, too, the change has been wrought gradually and 
without commotion. 

Slavery was abolished in Jamaica by Act of Parliament in 1833, and, 
after a brief term of apprenticeship, all the slaves were set free. The 
immediate results were very injurious. As to the condition of affairs 
afterwards there was much dispute. Many years ago the English Quar- 
terlies teemed with articles upon the subject, and each writer claimed to 
have a knowledge of all the essential facts, but it happened that the facts 
always confirmed the opinion which he had formed previously. To the 
reader, impartial and wishing to be informed, the result was as unsatis- 
factory as is the reading of the reports ordinarily made by the majority 
and minority of a Congressional Investigation Committee. 

I have always considered it one of the most fortunate circumstances 
of my life, and, I may say, one to be envied, that its events were such as 
to cause me to visit many parts of the country east of the Mississippi, 
and to become acquainted, and, sometimes, intimately acquainted, with 
the residents of every part of the United States. The result has been 
that, though I have lost the pleasure of regarding any place as " home," 
with all the surroundings and associations of family residence and child- 
hood, I have been free, I think, from sympathizing with the miserable 
feelings of prejudice and antipathy which existed in nearly every part of 
the country against some other or all other parts, and which were 
stronger, if possible, than the affections, natural and laudable, which 
one has for the place or State of his birth and residence. 1 have seen 
much which I liked in the local characteristics of the people of every part 
of the countr)'. I admit that I have seen much which I exceedingly dis- 
liked. 

It was the institution of slavery which made the most marked dis- 
tinction which existed between any sections of the country, and it was 
this institution which gave a peculiar character to the communities in 



i6o 



which it was estabHshed, Its influences affected their lives in their so- 
cial and domestic relations, in their industrial pursuits, in their politics, 
and in matters moral and religious. It has been my lot, from my child- 
hood, and without interruption till the present time, to have close rela- 
tions of friendship with many Southern people. The friendships formed 
in North Carolina sixty years ago are not all extinct, and they, in the 
course of years, have led to others. Several times since, various events, 
some of them naturally happening through the army life of my family, 
have been the cause of friendships with the residents of several Southern 
States. I have survived most of those whom I knew, but a few still re- 
main. My frequent visits to Washington before the war served to ex- 
tend the range of my acquaintance with the Southern people. My visits 
to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, had the same effect, though in a less degree. 
It was an army station, and, besides, some of the resident families had 
Southern friends. It is the seat of Dickinson College, and many of the 
students were from the border Slave States. The college is under the 
patronage of the Methodists, and the members of that denomination 
hold a much higher position, socially, in that part of the country, and 
thence southward, than is the case of the Northern and Eastern States. 
I write, then, with some claim of knowledge concerning the charac- 
teristics of the Southern people. The industries of the South were al- 
most exclusively agricultural, and the immense majority of the people 
were engaged or interested in agriculture. The agriculture, as was nec- 
essarily the case, the laborers being slaves, was of a crude nature, and 
consisted of raising a few staple crops. Scientific agriculture was all 
but impossible, and, therefore, not practiced. With the exception of 
New Orleans, there were no large cities south of the Potomac ; indeed, 
measured by the standard existing even at that time, it was the only city. 
The planters were the leading class, socially and politically, and the 
control of public affairs was in the hands of residents of the country, the 
rural population. Property consisted, mainly, of real estate and slaves, 
and what are now known as " capitalists " and immense corporations 
with large issues of stocks and bonds, subsidizing legislatures, control- 
ling elections, and, even, influencing courts, were but little known. It 
is true that it has been mainly since the war that such capitalists and 
corporations have acquired an immense, and, as some think, a dangerous 
power, in the Northern States; but they always possessed a power not 
known in the South. Commerce and trade were legitimate, and con- 
sisted in transporting and selling the crops and supplying the wants of 
the people. There was little room for speculation. Property remained 
long in the same families, and might have remained for generations had 
it not been for the spendthrift and extravagant habits of many of the 
planters. Too often were their crops pledged for advances, and even 
their plantations mortgaged to secure the debts which they had con- 



i6i 



tracted. Still, property, generally, was stable, and a class of permanent 
resident owners existed. In the spring of iS6o I went down the James 
River on my way to Fort Monroe. I, of course, admired the beautiful 
plantations which lay along the shores. Each had its private landing, and, 
as the steamboat drew near any one of them, a party approached from 
the residence, often the owner and members of the family, young ladies 
and gentlemen, coming to meet their friends, or to receive the mail, or 
for curiosity's sake, attended, also, by a retinue of young negroes and 
beautiful dogs. I asked the captain, with whom I had much chat dur- 
ing the day, what was the price of land along the river. To my surprise, 
he told me that he had never known one of those plantations to be sold. 
He was a young man, and, therefore, spoke to some persons who were 
sitting near us upon the subject, and the answer to his inquiry was that 
o)te of the number remembered a sale. The result of the war was that 
those plantations were abandoned, and were given to desolation. If, in 
the re-organization of industry which has taken place, they are again cul- 
tivated, it is probable that they are not now cultivated and occupied by 
their former owners. The general condition of affairs may be better for 
the community at large than that of former years, but, truly, those owners 
have been compelled to drink a bitter draught. Why, after having been 
subjected to those humiliations which were the necessary consequences 
of their defeat, any persons should have cried vae vicii's, and have placed 
upon them the other humiliations of some of the measures of reconstruc- 
tion, I cannot comprehend. It appears to me that the spirit which gov- 
erned those persons was as truculent as that which animated the Jews 
in their treatment of the inhabitants of the land which they invaded. 
When I heard those statements on the steamboat I remembered a con- 
versation which I had had with an acquaintance on a Hudson River 
steamboat in 1857. In the height of the panic of that year he and I were 
going from a village on the river to New York. He knew, by name and 
reputation, the occupants of many of the beautiful houses which were in 
sight, most of them more costly and substantial than those which stood 
on the shores of the James River. Like himself, those occupants were en- 
gaged in business in New York, and as he named them, I learned that all, 
with hardly an e.xception, were shaky. Probably not one of the occupants 
was born where he resided, and it is probable that very few, if any, of 
those houses are owned by the descendants of those who owned them in 
1857. It is sad to contemplate the vicissitudes of fortune wherever they 
may occur, and it may be said that it is not fair to institute a comparison 
between the residents on the shores of the James and of the Hudson. 
This criticism is true, and its truth merely serves to justify me in speak- 
ing of the permanency of property in the Slave States. The dwellers 
on the Hudson were engaged in business, and were aware of the risks 
to which they were exposed-, the dwellers on the James, themselves or 
II 



I02 



their families, would be living now where they lived in i860, had not the 
war disturbed them in their possessions. They were a portion of a 
rural class, which had control in political as well as in social matters. 
That class, so potent, did not exist elsewhere in this country. I think 
that the influence of a class such as .that is better than the influence 
exercised by powerful corporations or the party leaders and " bosses " of 
large cities. 

The characteristics of the Southern people were the results of their 
modes of life. Not being engaged in commercial pursuits or in trade, and 
not being capitalists in the sense which I have mentioned, they were not 
moved by the spirit of speculation or the desire to make a fortune by 
methods akin to gambling. Pecuniary affairs had not an undue impor- 
tance with them. They furnished to the country some of its ablest law- 
yers, and their legislators and statesmen were of the first rank. Their 
statesmen acted on questions of public policy upon fundamental and 
constitutional principles, and not from motives of temporary expediency. 
The South exerted a paramount influence in establishing the organic 
features of our political institutions, and in shaping our legislation so as 
to preserve the relations which should exist between the General Gov- 
ernment and the several States. 

The South produced few authors, poets, artists, musicians, architects, 
scholars or men of scientific attainments; and, as a general thing, the 
tastes and thoughts of the Southern people did not tend to create a con- 
dition of affairs of which such men are a result and an expression. Such 
men are generally to be found among people dwelling together in large 
numbers, where there is a constant attrition of mind against mind, and 
the efforts and attainments of a person engaged in any pursuit instruct 
and stimulate all others similarly engaged. 

There were marked foibles among the Southerners ; and, with m.any, 
the younger members of society particularly, the foibles ceased to be 
harmless foibles, but became offensive in their manifestation. There 
were ostentatious and untimely references to " blood," often groundless, 
and not a possession or merit by any means exceptionally their own, and 
being mainly a result of the permanency of property which has been 
mentioned, and which applied to but a small fraction of the population. 
There was needless talk about honor and chivalry; and the young men 
too often wished it to be understood that they were " sudden and quick 
in quarrel." But foibles are found everywhere. 

It was the prevailing idea at the North that Southern ladies led lives 
of indolence. Such was not the case. A married lady's life was one 
involving large responsibilities, from the discharge of which she could 
not escape. Hotel life was, of course, not known, and each married 
lady was the head of a household larger or smaller according to her 
means and position. The confectioner and the caterer, with all their ap- 



i63 

pliances, did not exist outside of tlie cities. If the lady had a skillful 
cook or an expert waiter, each had been taught by her, or some other 
lady. No servant did half the amount of work which is required of a 
servant at the North. Each of those servants often had two or more 
children; and all, servants and children, lived upon the premises, and 
outnumbered the white members of the family. All, from birth to burial, 
required and received the care of their mistress. I have reason to believe 
that, as emancipation has banished the young and the old and the sick, 
among the colored, from Southern households, and has made them no 
longer subjects of care and thought, Southern ladies feel that they, too, 
have been emancipated. Truly, in the olden time, the virtuous woman, 
as described in Holy Writ, was to be found throughout the Southern 
States. 

In private and domestic life, the fidelity of husband and wife, and the 
devotionof parents and children in Southern families, were not surpassed 
in any part of the world. In the broader relations of life the people of 
the South could not suffer by comparison with the people of any State 
or any Nation. Legislation and the administration of public affairs in 
State, County, City and Town were pure. Public men were upright and 
free from suspicion. Curruption and venality were rarely known. The 
cases were so few that they proved merely the demoralization of indi- 
viduals. Men were upright in semi-public positions, as officers and em- 
ployees of corporations. In the only case of a defalcation, of which I 
ever heard, the relatives of the defaulter were humbled and walked lowly 
thereafter. It was painful for me to meet one of them, whom I occasion- 
ally saw in New York, so anxious did he seem to be to avoid the glance 
of the eyes of one who knew the sad story. The President of a Southern 
Railway Company told me that he sent the Superintendent of the road, or 
the Chief of some Department, to the North to obtain railroad supplies, 
and that the employe said to him, on his return, that, at various establish- 
ments, he had been offered, to his great surprise, a commission if he 
would make the purchases from them. His surprise was less than his 
anger. He regarded the offer as a proposition to steal from his employers. 
That those good qualities of the Southern people were largely due to the 
fact that they were substantially an agricultural community, were not en- 
gaged in financial operations, and were not exposed to the heated rival- 
ries, and the anxieties and excitements which prevail in large cities, I 
admit. It is an old adage, and a true one, that half of our virtues are from 
the absence of temptation. But the facts were as stated, and they prove 
that the Southern people were not, as was too often alleged, and partic- 
ularly by New Englanders and their descendants, subjects for some sort 
of missionary enterprise in order that they might be raised to the higher 
standard of morality which prevailed among their Northern neighbors. 

Slavery is at an end, and with it has disappeared forever social con- 



164 

ditions which could not exist in a community where all were free. That 
the sudden emancipation of millions of slaves took place quietly, with but 
a few instances of violence or disorder, and without producing conflicts 
between the two races, is one of the most wonderful events in history. 
The fact proves that the colored race, by long contact with the white 
race, had imbibed something of that respect for law which has alv/ays 
characterized the latter. 

The future of the colored race is an important problem. They have 
the best wishes and will have the aid of all well-meaning men. The 
reign of the carpet bagger and the scalawag is at an end. The colored 
race will not vote, as heretofore, largely on one side ; but it is to be 
feared that the change will make them venal and the prey and tools of 
corrupt politicians. In all things they will find that their best friends are 
the classes with whom they were most closely connected when they were 
in a condition of servitude. 



After my manuscript had been placed in the hands of the printers, a 
letter addressed by Pope Leo XIII to the Bishops of Brazil, on the occa- 
sion of the termination of slavery in that Empire, and dated May 5th, 
1888, was made public. I saw it in The Catholic Review (Weekly) of 
June 17-23, and doubtless it has been published in other periodicals. It 
is the work of a master mind. In its lucidity and the logical sequence of 
all its parts, it reads like a legal argument prepared by a Charles O'Conor, 
or a state paper prepared by a Daniel Webster. It is a pleasure to read 
an able and exhaustive paper, whatever may be the subject of which it 
treats ; it is a pleasure, immensely greater, to read this letter, the utter- 
ances of the divinely appointed Head of the Visible Church, upon a sub- 
ject so important as slavery. It sets forth, with sufficient fullness and 
in the most lucid manner, the course of the Church, its views, influences 
and action, concerning the institution of slavery, from its own founda- 
tion, through all centuries, till the present time. It gives no countenance 
to the proposition, first broached by the Abolitionists, that the word 
servant, as used in the Bible, does not include, in the entire scope of its 
meaning, a slave. On the contrary, many passages are cited from the 
Bible in order to show the position of the Church concerning this very 
matter of slavery. It would have been singular, indeed, if, at a time when 
slavery was universal, and a large part of mankind were slaves, the 
Church had not condemned slavery as a sin, if it was a sin, or had not 
given instructions to owners and slaves, as to their respective duties. It 
did not condemn slavery as a sin. This is a fact which all intelligent 
persons, not blinded by fanaticism, have ever understood. It did give 
the necessary instructions, and. till the end of time, they will serve as a 



I05 

sufficient guide to all who hold the relation of superiors and inferiors in 
domestic life. 

The letter shows how tenderly and gently, and with what patience 
and prudence, and yet, how firmly, and with what encouraging progress 
and final success, the Church has dealt with the subject of slavery. 
Would that its counsels and influence had had free scope, from the time 
that slavery was first established among us, upon owners and slaves and 
the whole community. It may be that, owing to existing circumstances 
and conditions, there were an " impending crisis "' and an " irrepressible 
conflict," and that " the war had to come ; " but there was nothing in the 
nature of slavery itself which made a conflict necessary or required that 
a shot should be fired or a drop of blood shed. Unfortunately, evil 
counsels, erroneous ideas and uncharitable feelings prevailed, and their 
legitimate results followed. It was not true, as was asserted at the 
North, that " Slavery was the sum of all villainies;" and it was not true, 
as was subsequently asserted at the South, that " Slavery was a divine 
institution." It was sentiments such as these, the joint productions of 
fanatics and demagogues, and proceedings corresponding with the sen- 
timents, which produced an irrepressible conflict. Not, that, in my 
opinion, each part of the country was equally instrumental in creating 
the conditions which resulted iu the conflict. Granted that all the espe- 
cially objectionable features of slavery at the South, which I have men- 
tioned, really existed; the fact still remains, in my opinion, that the 
Abolitionists of the North were the unprovoked and inexcusable ag- 
gressors. Granted, further, that Secession was wrong in principle, and, 
when measured by a lower standard, worse as a matter of expediency, it 
still remains that, primarily, it was the words and acts of the Abolition- 
ists of the North which created the conditions which served as an excuse, 
for those who wanted one, for Secession. The Abolitionists should be 
distinguished from the Free Soilers and the Republicans. The latter 
had their origin in the later conditions, and, though I did not agree with 
their views and purposes, they generally sought to gain their ends by 
means of legislation, which they claimed to be within the Constitu- 
tion. 



107 



APPENDIX C. 

I can mention two occurrences which illustrate the spirit which pre- 
vailed among some of the Republicans. 

An acquaintance of mine, a prominent lawyer and a Democrat, of 
high social position, who resided, and still resides, in the interior of 
Pennsylvania, told me that, during the war, when he happened to be in 
Philadelphia, he was invited by an acquaintance to visit a Social Repub- 
lican Club, and that, on his reading, placed conspicuously on one of the 
walls, the words: "Disloyal persons not admitted here," or something 
to that effect, he asked who were considered disloyal persons, and that 
his acquaintance answered : " Democrats." He did not tell me, nor did 
I ask, whether it was known that he was a Democrat, or whether, the 
fact being known, he was not considered so bad as " those wicked Dem- 
ocrats '' generally. 

The other occurrence was a personal experience. I had known, for 
many years before the war, a family with the members of which I 
had had very pleasant relations, and which I was sure nothing which I 
had said or done, or omitted to say or do, had served to mar or change. 
The relations were purely social ; conversation had never taken the form 
of discussion or controversy, and the political opinions of each were 
known to all. Various circumstances had rendered it convenient for 
them and for me, that, when the season arrived for our meeting more 
frequently than usual, the advance, in each instance, should be made by 
them, and this had become the settled custom. In the course of time 
the war came. I continued to act with the Democratic party, but neither 
said nor did anything which could be reasonably deemed objectionable. 
True, I flatter myself that I was not a coward, and therefore did not, for 
dread of being " called names " such as " copperhead," make a display 
of my loj^alty. I know that I was not a trimmer. About this time, after 
what I deemed was a sufficient consideration of the subject, continued 
through years, I came to the conclusion that it was my duty, and bind- 
ing upon me in conscience, to submit myself openly to the Catholic 
Church, and that, if I should fail to do so, I would put myself in peril. 
When I arrived at the decision, I gave but little consideration to the 
point whether any and what comments might be made. The affair was 
mine and that sufficed for me. The external conditions of my relations 
with the family, to which I have referred, remained as I have described 
them, and, yet, for years after the occurrence last mentioned took place, 
and from before the middle of the war, though members of the family 
were often in my sight, and, even, hearing, and my being near at hand 
must have been known, I and my existence were completely ignored. 



i68 



Finally, I asked an acquaintance of theirs and mine, who was aware of 
the change which had taken place, what was the meaning of this want of 
recognition, and his answer was : " The fact is, I suppose, that they do 
not like Democrats and Catholics." I do not doubt thit his supposition 
was correct. That I did not regard the matter more in sorrow (for 
them) than in anger is due to the fact that my appreciation of its drollery 
nearly effaced the effects of both emotions. 

As I take pride in being a Democrat and a Catholic, it would be un- 
seemly and unreasonable for me to take the tone of defense upon either 
point of the objections which were made. I prefer the tone of aggres- 
sion, and, fortunately, at this juncture, both points may be treated in this 
manner. 

The Democrats of the North were the real Union Party. When war 
came, recognizing the fact that the disruption of the Union would be the 
direst of calamities, not for this country alone, but for mankind, they stood, 
as ever before, for the Union and the Constitution. If there were excep- 
tions among them, they were not more numerous than were those, not 
Democrats, who, for years, had declared themselves ready to "shovel 
the Slave States out of the Union," while others said, as I heard it said : 
"You cannot kick the Slave States out of the Union;" thus charging the 
people of the South with want of sincerity in making their complaints, 
and with not having the courage to act according to their threats, and 
leading them to suppose that it was believed at the North that they 
would eat their words and submit to anything. When afterwards, as 
was the case, any of the Democrats withdrew, or lost, their sympathy in 
the war, it was because the Republican Party had departed from the 
purposes for which the war was to be conducted, as first formulated and 
proclaimed with the approval of all. Added to this was the fact that 
the Administration trampled the Constitution under foot, violated the 
sacred rights of liberty, interfered with elections in loyal States, and, 
whenever or wherever it deemed it necessary, attempted to establish 
military rule. Some persons, cowards or trimmers, who still called 
themselves Democrats, approved, or pretended to approve of all this as 
demanded by the " life of the nation ;" others preferred to " let the Union 
slide," which expression, I think, had a Republican origin; but the mass 
of the party, of which I was one, felt and said that the restoration of the 
Union was paramount to everything, and that, as to all grounds of com- 
plaint, we must wait, the Union having been restored, for times to come. 
It looks now, as if the dreary hours of waiting were passed, and as if the 
times to come were to be ours. 

The Democratic Party has been guilty of committing grievous errors; 
errors in its political course and in its candidates. Those errors, in my 
opinion, have been the results of cowardice ; an abandonment of princi- 
ple, and the substitution of measures prompted by a willingness to con- 



1 6c 



suit a short-sighted policy, with a view to an immediate success, for 
those which would have better accorded with a policy far-sighted and 
comprehensive. The desired success never came. Among those errors 
were: The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which, whatever may 
have been its original merits, limited the extension of slavery according 
to its natural limits; the platform ot 1864, adopted as a cowardly con- 
cession to noisy, but small, faction, and which, possibly, caused the de- 
feat of McClellan ; the proposed nomination of Chase in 1868, and the 
ridiculous nomination, in 1872, of Greeley, whose election was never a 
possibility. Strange that public men do not see that courage is the best 
quality which a party can possess, and that nine men out of every ten in 
a party, who may hesitate to act for themselves, will follow a courageous 
man, who voices the principles of the party, and will follow him, not 
blindly or by reason ot the glamour or prestige of his name, but with 
hearty and intelligent good will, and as a leader for whom they have 
long waited. 

It is not in my power, as it is not my province, to say more con- 
cerning the objection made to me as a Catholic, than to give expression 
to my undoubting conviction that the Catholic Church -is divine in its 
origin, and, though necessarily working through human, and, therefore, 
through frail instruments, is always supernaturally, and, therefore, uner- 
ringly, guided, and is, as it has ever been, the friend, than which there 
can be no better, of all rulers and all nations. 

In contrast with the disposition manifested by many members of 
parties not Democratic, to establish a system of social ostracism in re- 
gard to their opponents, I am proud to say that, though Democrats hold 
their political principles very tenaciously, I never knew of a case where 
a Democrat was guided, in his social relations, by his political opinions 
to the effacement of other influences and considerations. " Offensive 
partisanship " may be manifested in social life, but I have never known a 
Democrat to make any such display. On the other hand, many of the 
Republicans were not only "in season" but often" "out of season." 
They frequently converted their pulpits into political platforms, and the 
result was that Democratic and Protestant church-goers were of the 
opinion that many of their churches had, indeed, become, in the language 
of Mrs. Partington: "places where the gospel is dispensed with." I 
cannot state the case better than by using the language of a friend of 
mine, Mr. Freeman P. Woodbury, now deceased: "The Republicans 
have an unfair advantage over us, Churchill ; they can stump it seven 
days in the week." 



171 



APPENDIX D. 

The query may arise : Why should I, a Democrat, have been in at- 
tendance, as an outsider, at a Whig Convention ? This is the answer: 
The surroundings of my early life were those of the Whig Party, and I 
naturally adopted its sentiments, and learned to regard the Democrats, 
or Lo-co-fo-cos, as wanting in intelligence, sincerity, virtue and patriotism, 
and as persons to be avoided and tabooed. As a boy, in 1840, I partic- 
ipated in all the tomfoolery of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and '' Log 
Cabin and Hard Cider," and thought it wisdom. A change was wrought 
by reflection and reading, and by wider associations and experience, 
and the observation of the tendencies of political parties. I came to 
understand and approve the strict construction placed by the Democratic 
Party upon the powers vested in the Federal Government by the Consti- 
tution, and to reject the latitudinarian views of the Whig Party, for the 
reason, among others, that they led to legislation which favored classes 
and which made lavish expenditures for purposes purely local, no one of 
w^hich could have gained favor on its own merits, but which combined 
for a raid upon the Federal Treasury. I did not sympathize with the 
spirit of ostracism and intolerance displayed by many of the Whigs and 
their successors in reference to persons of foreign birth, and to Catholics, 
whether native or foreign. I perceived that the Abolitionists were 
mainly to be found among the Whigs of the North. I saw that it was 
the logical result of the ideas and theories entertained by all parties other 
than the Democratic that their members should be, and were, disposed 
to meddle, by legislation and criticism and otherwise, with the affairs of 
their neighbors, the social organizations of the citizens of other States, 
and the private habits of their fellow-citizens of their own State. Every 
year of experience and all my thoughts and reading upon the subject 
enabled me to see more clearly, and, therefore, to condemn the fallacies 
and iniquities of the protective system, that system by means of which 
the many are taxed for the benefit of the few in this respect that but a 
small portion of the sums which are wrung from the many, under 
the protective system, goes into the National Treasury. I was convinced 
that any such system was not only unconstitutional, but was a fruitful 
source of oppression and deception and of combinations and conspiracies 
against the rights and interests of the people. 

Though 1 have answered the query, I think it opportune to add some 
general remarks concerning the protective system. The idea and the 
practice of protection existed from the organization of our present Fed- 
eral system, but I think that it was due to Mr. Clay, that " The Amer- 
ican System '' became the motto of a political party. In adopting the 



172 

motto the advocates of protection virtually characterized their opponents 
as being unpatriotic, and not Americaji, but British. Though dicta- 
torial and uncharitable in his political career, Mr. Clay was thoroughly 
patriotic, just and national in his feelings. But, in his day, the protec- 
tive system had not been studied in theory and observed in its results 
when in operation, as has been the case in later years. In my opinion 
the protective system is anything but American. The American idea, if 
I understand it, is in the direction of the freedom and largest liberty of 
the individual and of the community, due regard being had for the wel- 
fare and safety of the public, and of peace among ourselves and with all 
nations. The same spirit leads to free intercourse with all nations, that 
is, to Free Trade. 

I do not see why free trade should not prevail throughout the entire 
world as it exists among our States and Territories. If it should be 
urged, as it is often urged, that we should not depe7td upon other nations, 
the answer is readily found. Owing to the vast extent of the country, 
and its varied conditions of soil and climate, there is nothing absolutely 
necessary to our independence which we cannot produce without pro- 
tection. Other nations depend upon vs. We must, of course, have for- 
tifications and ships of war, and all the appliances of war, and must not 
depend upon other nations for anything needed in war. This, I thmk, 
is the limit to which we should carry protection under any circumstances; 
but we can have all these requisites and they can be provided by the U. 
S. Government in its own foundries and navy yards, as resultants and 
consequences of the growth and existence of private industries. Only 
let those industries take care of themselves; let them be neither pro- 
tected nor hampered. If an industry is remunerative it does not need 
protection; if it is not, it should not be undertaken, not, at least, so long 
as the existing conditions remain unchanged. In the natural order of 
events, the industries of a country are determined by external conditions, 
and any industries not so determined are artificial and should never be 
undertaken. The inhabitants of a new country, covered by forests, 
should fell trees and make slabs and shingles before they undertake to 
cut and polish diamonds. It would be more profitable, as well as more 
natural, for them to manufacture potash than perfumery. Oranges may 
be forced in Maine and ice manufactured in Florida, but free trade be- 
tween those States prevents any such foolish enterprises being under- 
taken. So it should be between nations. Time was when hardly a 
clothes-pin was made by machinery in the Northwestern States. Now, 
Chicago is one of the four leading manufacturing cities of the country. 
All of this is the result, not of bounties and subsidies, protection of 
Western industries and restriction upon purchases at the East, but of free 
trade among the States, that is, allowing things to shape themselves. 
So should it be among nations. The result with us is a condition of af- 



/o 



fairs which is healthful and natural. It will continue so long as external 
circumstances remain unchanged. Should circumstances demand a 
change it should be permitted to take place, and, under our system of 
inter-State free trade, it will take place. 

Undoubtedly it sometimes happens, under this system, that one part 
of the country may be prosperous to the detriment of another, but this 
can never be without benefit to a largely increased number of people, 
and, therefore, the country at large. Time was when wheat was an im- 
portant crop in the Valley of the Mohawk and in the Valley of the Gen- 
essee, and when the flouring mills of Oswego and Rochester were of 
the first rank. Now, Minneapolis is the principal flouring city in the 
United States, and wheat and other grain, and animal food in every 
form, are mainly transported 1,000 miles and more to the Eastern con- 
sumers, and with less labor on the part of the producers and at lower 
prices to the consumers than in former years. I have read, of late, that 
forest trees are appearing in the old orchards of the deserted farms of 
New England, and that the farming population in New England is 
diminishing. I know that such is the case in Northern New York. 
This fact merely proves that the farming industry has ceased to be 
profitable in certain parts of the country, and that the farmers have gone 
west or have sought other occupations. It strikes me that it would be 
the wildest insanity to attempt, by legislation, to prevent these changes. 
But, compensation for these losses already begins to manifest itself. 
People of wealth and leisure, when they go into the interior^ in their 
summer saunterings, do not seek prairies or any regions purely agricul- 
tural; they flock to the hills and mountains, all along from the moun- 
tains in Maine to the extreme Southern limits of the Appalachians. They 
do not wish to see hills and mountains parched and treeless, but forest- 
clad when they do not present cliffs and precipices to the view ; they 
want to find brooks running brimful and not dry gullies. The new 
growth of forest trees, which has been mentioned, will tend to remove 
the disastrous results of the reckless and wasteful felling of the forests 
which has heretofore prevailed, and the farmers, who remain in the hills 
and mountains, will be able to dispose, at high prices, to the " summer 
boarders," of the products of their industry directed into new channels, 
and devoted to the cultivation of smaller areas than when crops alone 
were raised. Further than this, it will be found that forest culture is 
more lucrative, in the lapse of years, than was any form of agriculture 
bestowed in the past upon sterile and stony acres. All of these natural 
adjustments of industries are the results of free trade among the States. 
Such would be the results of free trade among all nations. 

The language of some advocates of the protective system indicates 
that they think that every nation on earth would profit by a protective 
tariff. Of course the statement of the proposition carries a refutation 



174 

with it. But, if they are correct, each of our States would profit by a 
protective tariff on importations from all other States. If such is the 
case the People of the United States made a sad mistake when they 
adopted the Constitution. Under the Articles of Confederation, the sev- 
eral States possessed and exercised the power to collect duties on im- 
ports from other States. This was one of the evils which made it evi- 
dent that another compact was necessary, and, finally, the People of the 
United States, in separate State Conventions, adopted a Constitution 
which established free trade among the States by Article I, Section lo. 
Clause 2nd, which is as follows: '" No State shall, without the consent of 
the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except 
what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws; 
and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Im- 
ports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United 
States; and all such laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control of 
the Congress." Any one, who should propose to return to the old sys- 
tem, would be considered insane, and, yet, no doubt, a fraction of the 
population of every State would be able, by means of a protective tariff, 
to till soil, now neglected, and to apply themselves to industries not now 
pursued. Thousands of acres of land, within the limits of the Jersey 
Flats, are now lying waste and useless, producing nothing of any value 
but muskrats, and nothing else but malaria and mosquitoes. If they 
were surrounded by levees and ditched and drained, and the soil proper- 
ly treated, they would be made extremely fertile, and there would be rich 
returns in cattle and in crops of every kind. There would be markets 
and consumers within the limits of the State. The results could not be 
accomplished without large expenditures and without protection against 
imports from other States. The protection would encourage " home in- 
dustry;" but, and this is the point in the case, the cost to consumers 
would be immensely advanced. The people of New Jersey, if they had 
the power to do so, would not consent to the necessary protection. 
Why ? Because they would prefer free trade among the States, as a re- 
sult of which they could buy at the lowest rates and sell at the highest 
rates. By their decision they would consult the interests of every person 
in the State except those who sought protection. The only danger 
would be that the latter would combine with others, who also sought 
protection, to put a load upon the backs of the people. They would say, 
of those who onposed them in these schemes of oppression, as, accord- 
ing to the Evening Post of February loth, 1888, Senator Sherman said, 
at the " Home Market Club," in Boston, the evening before, " he could 
excuse Prof. Sumner and Prof. Perr}% whose theories exclude love of 
country and rest upon the universal love of man." Prof. Sumner and 
Prof. Perr)' must have been amused on hearing that they were charged 
with an altruism so Quixotic. 



1/5 

If it is well for the people of New Jersey, by means of free trade 
among the States, to buy at the lowest rates and to sell at the highest 
rates, why is it not well for the people of the United States, by free trade 
among nations, to have the same privilege ; to have the choice of the 
whole world in making their purchases, and the wants and demands of 
the whole world in finding their customers ? Every country of ordinary 
extent and importance, by reason of local conditions, produces a surplus, 
beyond its wants, of some article, agricultural, mineral or manufactured, 
and, of course, can sell the article, to those countries which require it, 
at an advance on the price which prevails where it is produced. It is a 
converse of the same proposition that every country, of ordinary extent 
and importance, by reason of local conditions, needs or desires some arti- 
cle which it does not produce, or of which it does not produce a suffi- 
ciency, and is willing to purchase the article in order to supply its wants. 
It is certain that merchants will buy the article and import it if they can 
make a profit by the transaction. If they are permitted to seek the arti- 
cle throughout the world, they will make their purchases in the countr)' 
where the lowest prices prevail, and that country will be the one which 
produces the largest surplus and in which there are no restrictions on ex- 
portation. These exchanges contribute trade. 

The system of free trade allows the exchanges mentioned to be 
made. It does not encourage them. It simply allows things to shape 
themselves, as exchanges take place among the States of our Union, or 
as the currents of the ocean keep the water at a level. By this process 
every country makes a profit; it sells its surplus above the home prices, 
and it buys the surplus of other countries at rates which are below the 
same rate of prices. Each gains by the transaction, and, yet, according 
t<) the methods by which the ' ' Balance of Trade '' is determined, that is, 
estimating the value of exports at the ports of exportation, and the value 
of imports at the ports of importation, each country is a loser. In order 
that a country may profit by its trade, the balance of trade, thus deter- 
mined, ffiusl be against it. All the nations of the world may and should 
profit by their trade, and, if they do, the balance of trade must be 
against them. An erroneous idea has prevailed and still prevails upon 
this subject. A large proportion of the restraints upon the freedom of 
commerce for some centuries has grown out of this notion, and the 
advocates of the protective policy have made the most of it. An inter- 
esting article on balance of trade can be found in the Cyclopedia which 
I have mentioned. 

Such is, the result of the application of the principle of free trade. 
On the other hand the protective policy prevents, or tends to prevent, a 
countrj' from disposing of its surplus at the highest prices in the markets 
of the world, and from supplying its wants by purchasing at the lowest 
prices in the same markets. Why.' Because a countrj- cannot sell 



unless it is willing to purchase, and it cannot purchase unless it has 
something to sell. Every intelligent person must admit that a tariff of 
any kind, whether protective or not, operates as a restriction upon trade, 
and the avowed object of the advocates of a protective tariff in this 
country is to compel our people to purchase articles produced or manu- 
factured in the United States. It follows, therefore, that any tariff tends 
to check exportations and to prevent our people from selling their surplus 
at the highest prices in the markets of the world. The extent to which 
the restriction operates depends upon the rates of duties levied, and the 
difficulties in the nature and condition of things which the false system 
is obliged to overcome. But, the tendency and the restriction remain the 
same. It is only a question of degrees. 

Another erroneous idea, which the advocates of the protective 
system have endeavored, and with some unfortunate degree of success, 
to instill into the minds of our people is: That a dollar in gold is worth 
more than a dollars worth of other property. The precious metals 
possess merely the advantage of exchangeability. Beyond this they are 
nothing but commodities, and it is not necessary to encourage their im- 
portation or prevent their exportation. But, the advocates of the pro- 
tective system urge against the policy of free trade that, if adopted, the 
result would be that the country would be drained of its gold. The 
readers of Dombey and Son will remember that one of the guests at Dr. 
Blimber's entertainment, Mr. Baps, the Professor of Dancing, having 
got hold of this fallacious idea, flew around among the other guests, and 
posed them by the question: " What you were to do with your raw ma- 
terials when they came into your ports in return for your drain of gold ? ", 
and that, among them all, Toots was the only one who ventured an ans- 
wer, which was: " Cook 'em." Now, the Professor of Dancing was not 
familiar with the laws of trade ; otherwise he would have known that 
England would not import raw materials for the mere fun of the thing, 
but because she needed them, and that, if she needed them, it was wise 
to import them even at the expense of a drain of gold. On the other 
hand, Toots, though not a philosopher, or a master of finance, showed 
wisdom in his answer; for it is clear that, if it was necessary for England 
to import raw materials, it was equally necessary that they should be 
adapted to the uses for which they were needed, and that cooking might 
be the best means of adaptation 

Since writing of this occurrence at Dr. Blimber's entertainment I have 
seen, in the Congressional Record, a speech made in the H. of R. by 
Mr. Allen, a member from Mississippi, on the 12th day of May, in which 
he mentions Mr. Baps and Mr. Toots. I am pleased to learn that I am 
not the only one who thinks that the occurrence serves to illustrate the 
fallacies of the protective system. 

The question is sometimes asked, what is to become oi existing in- 



177 

dustries ? Those who ask the question, if they are well-informed, know 
perfectly well that no one proposes free trade, except as an end to be 
kept in view; that it is a result not to be reached now, even if it were 
desired and sought; that the most that can be expected is a movement 
in that direction coupled with a proper consideration of existing interests. 
A vicious system has no element of sanctity, and can acquire no pre- 
scriptive rights by lapse of years. But private interests, which are the 
outgrowth of a vicious system, particularly if it is, itself, a measure of 
public policy, have rights which should always be considered. I have 
never failed to note, however, that when an attempt is made to relieve 
the people, in the least degree, from the burdens of the protective tariff,, 
the representatives of the protected interests proceed at once to denounce 
" tinkering with the tariff." On the other hand, when it is proposed to 
increase the burden, nothing is said about tinkering, but much is said 
about protecting the American laborers against the "pauper labor of 
Europe." Tinkering is, if possible, to be avoided, but, if the relief de- 
manded cannot be obtained systematically and gradually, and with due 
regard to all classes, then. I say: on with the tinkering. That the in- 
terests, which have grown up under the influences of the protective 
system, must prepare themselves for the establishment of free trade or 
be crushed by it, on its being established, there can be, in my opinion, no 
doubt. The movement in favor of free trade is one which is as sure to 
be successful as were the various reform bills, the Catholic Emancipation 
bill, the bill to repeal the corn laws, and all the great measures which 
have been proposed by the Liberal Party in England. I cannot but be 
struck, however, by the protracted babyhood of the "infant industries" 
of the country. I am an old man, and yet, such of the infant industries, 
the companions of my childhood, as are not still " mewling and puking 
in the nurse's arms," have not advanced further, in the utterance of in- 
telligible sounds, than to " cry for more." But, the claim of infancy is 
one which, in most instances, is without foundation. The industries are 
old in years, and, with increase of years, their inclination to maintain 
their unjust advantages has increased. As it is with a man, so it is with 
a class; a vice becomes more potent the longer it continues to rule. The 
avarice of a man, who is but twenty-five years old, is wastefulness, when 
compared with the avarice of a man whose years are three score and ten. 
There are moments when generosity and mercy are manifested by the 
former; the latter is grasping and inexorable at all times. Encouraged 
by success and rendered over-confident by their immunity, the protected 
classes may be made reckless by their intoxication, and be thrown by 
the over-burdened people from their shoulders, as the Old Man of the 
Sea was thrown from the shoulders of the unfortunate Sindbad. 

Another point. The advocates of protection say that, though many 
of the Northern industries, which have derived a benefit from the pro 



178 

tective policy, are now, in a measure, so much matured as to be able to 
walk alone, the policy has gained new supporters in the industries which 
have been established in recent years in the Southern States. If such in- 
dustries differed from those long prosecuted at the North, there might 
be something in the statement, but, as they are the same in all respects, 
the statement is perfectly fallacious. A tariff on imports, which the in- 
dustries of one part of the country do not need, cannot be of service to 
the same industries m other parts. Why? Because the former will be 
the rivals of the latter, undersell them and drive them out of existence, 
unless the latter possess some advantages m local conditions, such as 
lower prices for land, building materials, fuel, motive power, food, sup- 
plies and customers near at hand. The only means whereby the under- 
selling can be prevented is a combination among all the persons inter- 
ested in the protected industries to maintain high prices. But, when the 
people come to understand that such combinations have been made, 
they will throw the doors open to foreign competition, that is, they will 
establish yr^^ trade. Such combinations have been made. It only re- 
mains for the people to know the fact. 

It is not to be believed that the people of the Southern States, in 
which the new industries have been established, will range themselves on 
the side of protection. Most of the people of those States are interested 
in agriculture, and the agriculturists in every part of the country see now, 
better than ever, that there are none upon whom the evils of protection 
press more heavily than upon themselves. They understand that, 
though an agriculturist may not be the consumer of an imported article 
unless it may be a little spice or sugar or tea or coffee, or the like, he is 
taxed heavily for the support of the manufacturing classes. They are 
not deceived by the talk of a " home market" created for them at their 
doors. They want the world for a market. They see, with some of the 
manufacturers themselves, that, by reason of a vicious protective system, 
the latter cannot purchase their supplies at the lowest possible prices in 
all parts of the woild, and, consequently, being undersold in foreign 
markets by those who do thus procure their supplies, cannot dispose of 
the products of their industries. The agriculturists see that, if we do 
not import, we cannot export, and that the system, which is called one 
of protection, is one of restriction and oppression. 

It is one of the advantages of free trade that the world-wide pro- 
ducers of an article cannot combine to maintain an artificial price. Each 
producer is a competitor of all others. In this connection it may be said 
that, when an article is produced in but one country, it must be sold at 
the same price to all nations. A Chinese tea merchant, for instance, 
cannot sell a cargo of tea, destined for the United States, admitting that 
he knows its destination, for a higher price than he can sell one des- 
tined for England or France. If he should succeed in doing so, our 



1/9 

purchases would at once be made through the favored country. The 
Chinese tea merchant can have but one price. 

In former times the advocates of protection frankly avowed that it 
was primarily the manufacturers whose interests were sought. Now, in 
the hope of securing new allies, they prate much of wage-earners, and 
the laboring classes. No one will claim that it is constitutional to tax 
one class of laborers for the benefit of another class ; but, aside from 
the constitutional point, it is safe to assume that no one class will be 
content to be so taxed, and to assume, further, that all t"he laboring 
classes will understand that, as the cost of labor is but an item in the cost 
of manufacturing an article, employers will be compelled, by competition 
among themselves, and irrespective of any tariff, to hire labor at the 
lowest rates, and that, consequently, the benefits to be derived from pro- 
tection will be enjoyed by the employers. The exceptional advantages 
enjoyed by the laboring men in this country do not arise from the pro- 
tective policy, and cannot be maintained by it. They rest upon local 
conditions, our internal free trade, the readiness by which a laboring 
man can go from one pursuit to another, or make a change in his resi- 
dence, the skill and enterprise of the workmen, and, largely, upon 
the fact that there are millions of acres of land to be had at low prices 
and ensuring a living to all who will occupy and cultivate them. 

As to the methods of taxation for the national government, the choice 
seems to lie between internal revenue, and a tariff upon imports. There 
are two reasons, at least, why the former should be preferred. One is 
that the amount paid by the consumer of an article upon which there is 
an internal revenue tax is the limit of the amount paid by him, whereas, 
under the protective system, for every dollar of duties paid, several and 
often many dollars are paid to the favored classes, and, what is still 
worse, many dollars are paid to them by those who consume imported 
articles in but small quantities, if at all. The other reason is that the 
internal revenues are now derived from articles which are necessaries 
to merely a limited extent. Practically, and except to this limited ex- 
tent, no one is obliged to pay anything for the support of the current ex- 
penses of the government. I have not made a close investigation, but I 
venture the opinion that, aside from the payment of pensions and inter- 
est on the national debt, the current expenses of the nation could be paid 
by the revenue from tobacco, whiskey when used as a beverage, and 
other articles so used. But if, in addition to the revenue derived from 
these sources, it is necessary' to raise a revenue by a tariff on imports, 
then I suggest that the policy to be kept in view and, in due time, at- 
tained, would be best expressed by the words : A tariff" for revenue only^ 
without the purpose of protection, direct or incidental^ and "without 
that result unless unavoidable. In order to determine the rates of duty 
on the imported articles, it should be first ascertained what rates will 



i8o 



produce the largest amount of revenue, and then, if it should appear that 
those rates would produce more revenue than was required, the rates 
should be reduced. The proposition, lately made, to reduce the amount 
of revenue by increasing the rates, so as to diminish or prevent impor- 
tations, is simply a bald proposition to tax the mass of the people for the 
benefit of the few, is unconstitutional, and is a scheme of oppression. 

The protective policy, based, as it is, upon the idea that each nation 
should make itself independent of all others by throwing around itself a 
barrier of exclusion, is in accord with the idea that the nations of the 
earth are necessarily hostile, and should shape their policy as if they were 
likely to become open enemies. It is in accord with the ideas which once 
prevailed, and were put in practice, that all strangers were enemies, that 
private property was subject to capture in war, that prisoners of war should 
be reduced to slavery or put to death, and that wrecks and the cargoes and 
the private property of the crews and passengers of wrecked vessels were 
lawful plunder. It was considered quite an amelioration when, for the vio- 
lence and license of a mob, the monopoly of conducting the plundering was 
secured to certain powerful men of the neighborhood and a hereditary- 
class of land pirates, similar to the Robber Barons, the Road Agents of 
the period, was created. When, subsequently, it was proposed to make 
the matter of wrecks a subject of legal procedure, the members of this 
hereditary aristocracy made a great outcry concerning the proposition to 
overthrow "existing industries;" and, so powerful and influential had 
they become, that it was necessary to secure their assent to the introduc- 
tion of the new order of things by bribes and the other means well 
known to Prime Ministers. 

The policy of free trade is in line with modern and enlightened 
ideas: the increasing exemptions from capture in war of private proper- 
ty, the increasing rights of neutrals, the restrictions placed upon priva- 
teering, and the submitting of differences between nations to arbitration. 
All of these changes are in the right direction. They lead to peace, free 
intercourse and free trade, and to the solidarity of nations. It may 
seem idle to entertain a view so hopeful when Europe is shaken by 
the tramping of armies and millions of soldiers are maintained on ac- 
count of the jealousies and suspicions of rival nations, largely growing 
out of the question which of them, when the time comes, shall adminis- 
ter upon the effects of the sick man of Europe. The force of all this I 
acknowledge, but my faith in the advent of a condition of things in the 
near future to which the circumstances above mentioned point, is not 
shaken. An optimist by nature, 1 am still more an optimist by convic- 
tion and by the contemplation of past events and present tendencies. 



i8i 



APPENDIX E. 

I call attention, here, to sev^eral points worthy of careful consideration. 
My father was a Northern man, and, more than that, a Vermonter. Gen. 
Macomb died in June, and, as soon as it had been decided that Gens. 
Scott and Wool should be promoted, as was but right and might have 
been expected, and the decision became known, interest in the Army 
centered upon the question who would succeed Gen. Wool. The posi- 
tion of Inspector General (with the rank of Colonel) was one of the most 
important and responsible in the service. It stood next to the position of 
Adjutant General and those of the Chiefs of Corps. It cannot be doubted 
that applications were made for the promotion which the vacancy would 
make necessary, and that all customary mfluences were used in favor of 
every applicant. My father had never had the inclination or the capacity 
to play the courtier. He had been but little in Washington, and for years 
his duties had been discharged at a distance, and, mostly, in obscurity, 
and there were but few who were aware of their nature and importance, 
and of the manner in which he had discharged them. In the face of all 
these facts, and in his absence and without his knowledge, his name was 
sent by Gen. Jesup, a Virginian, to the President, John Tyler, also a Virgin- 
ian, for the appointment of Inspector General. Gen. Towson, of Mary- 
land, supported the recommendation of Gen. Jesup. John Bell, of Ten- 
nessee (a candidate for the Presidency in i860), was Secretary of War, 
and President Tyler nominated him to the Senate, and thus, through in- 
fluences entirely Southern, and by the action of Southerners, two grades 
were conferred upon my father, and, apparently, to the satisfaction of the 
entire Army. I think that my father had never met Mr. Tyler. He told 
me afterwards that, when they first met, the President laughingly said to 
him, in substance: "Colonel, if I had desired to nominate any one else 
I could not have done so ; your friends advocated you with such 
warmth." 

I mention these facts for the reason that, in a recent publication, to 
which I have already referred, " Fifty Years Observation of Men and 
Events " of which Gen. Keyes, a native of Massachusetts, is the author, 
the statement is made again and again, and in every form of words, that 
officers of the Army of Northern birth were at a great disadvantage in 
comparison with those of Southern birth; their exploits and merits over- 
looked and ignored ; praise, commendation, and recognition by brevets 
and promotion not rendered and bestowed according to their deserts, and 
they, individually, regarded as inferior. In order to use extreme care let 
it be understood that I do not assert that Gen. Keyes states that North- 
ern officers were absolutely ignored, &c., but were ignored in comparison 



152 



with Southern officers. That I may speak "by the book," and this 
book, in particular, I quote several passages, among many, as follows: 
"All the glory of its victories [those of the war with Mexico] and the 
lion's share of its promotions and rewards inured to the profit of South- 
ern officers" (p. 203); "In those days, however, when Mr. Jefferson 
Davis was Secretary of War, the exploits of Northern officers were not 
much regarded" (pp. 260 and 261); "but considering him [Gen. Har- 
ney, who had done Gen. (then Capt.) Keyes a favor which the latter 
duly acknowledges] as a prominent member of the sectional party to 
which I was so strongly opposed, I would not relinquish my vicarious 
resentment, which I cherished as a sacred duty " (p. 289) ; " They 
[Southern people] claimed all the chief officers and commands in the 
Federal Government, the Army and Navy, by right of innate superior- 
ity" (p. 338); "Almost invariably, when a Northern officer was named 
for any kind of distinction, he [Gen. Robert Anderson, of Sumter fame] 
would shake his head and make a disparaging remark " (p. 370) ; " I can 
say, if hatred and contempt for the people of the North and East, and, 
especially, the latter, and of a boundless partiality for the South, are qual- 
ifications for a successor in command [of Fort Sumter] to Colonel Gard- 
ner [an officer, a native of Mass., grossly assailed and misrepresented, 
and without cause, by Northern fanatics, as was Col. Dimick, a native of 
Vermont, who was in command of Fort Monroe] few better than Major 
Anderson can be found among my acquaintances in the Army " (p. 370, 
and copied from an entry made, Oct. i6th, '60, by Gen. Keyes, in his 
journal) ; "At the outbreak of the rebellion Northern officers enjoyed 
about the same standing in the Federal Army as the Sepoys enjoy in the 
English East Indian Military Service " (p. 429) ; " During forty years 
before the rebellion it was an axiom with the War Department that no 
officer was fit to command an Army who was not of Southern birth " 

(P- 439)- 

I first saw this book in Newport, where it was lent to me by the late 
Admiral Werden (retired), and I may say that he ridiculed these ideas 
so far as his experience in the navy enabled him to express an opinion 
concerning them. He was of Northern birth — a Pennsylvanian, I think 
— and I was informed that his political views were in accord with those 
of the Republican party. 

My opinions differ radically, and in their entire scope, from those of 
Gen. Keyes, and I do not hesitate to claim as much knowledge and As 
having had as many opportunities for observation as he can rightly 
claim. I claim to be his superior in impartiality and coolness of judg- 
ment. There are no issues of fact. The issue is as to the inferences to 
be drawn from observation and the knowledge and study of facts. 
From my earliest recollection till 1835 my father was in the ist Art. He 
was then, till 1841, in the 3rd Art., and thereafter, and until his retire- 



j83 

ment, in the Staff. From 1840 till 1862, with a brief interval, one of my 
two brothers was in the 3rd Art., and from the latter date until the pres- 
ent time one has been on the retired list. Including his cadetship, my 
nephew was in the army for nine years. These circumstances brought 
me into a close association with the army, and created an interest in it 
which remains till the present day. This interest led me to keep the run 
of legislation and administrative proceedings affecting the army. I have 
met officers singly, and in small and large numbers, of all grades and 
ages, from all parts of the country, and of every branch of the service, 
those whose position in the army was strictly military, and those who 
belonged to the Medical and Pay Departments, graduates of the Acad- 
emy and officers appointed from civil life. As my years increased, in- 
timacies became closer, and conversation with those with whom I was 
intimate became free and without reserve. During all those vears I 
never saw the least manifestation of the idea that an officer gained or 
lost anything merely on account of the place of his birth. Amono- 
themselves each officer stood upon his merits. When there was an op- 
portunity for advancement or recognition or promotion, individual offi- 
cers exerted themselves and brought influence to bear in their behalf. 
There were schemers among them, and some gained the reputation of 
always falling into "soft places;" but there was nothing sectional in 
all this. Similar schemers are found everywhere. Sectional topics 
were not the subject of discussion, or, even, conversation, in the army; 
not that those topics were avoided as painful by a tacit understandino- 
but for the same reason that, in social clubs and in well-ordered society, 
political and religious controversy is not considered to be in good taste. 
I do not hesitate to say that, if an officer had been constantly talking on 
any topic, he would have been considered a monumental nuisance. I 
have heard officers talk pipe-clay till all the hearers were wearied. Of 
course, when sectional matters became political issues, army officers 
could not fail to form and express opinions, but I venture to say that 
there were much less discussion and acrimony in army circles than else- 
where. To the last moment, at almost every post, the officers, there as- 
sembled, dwelt together in harmony, and, with exceptions so few that 
they can be counted on the fingers of one hand, officers who resio-ned 
and entered the Confederate service, w-ere true to the service and the 
flag. I have heard officers make good-natured comments on the local 
peculiarities of the communities in which they had been stationed, or of 
the persons whom they had met, and no one, though the shot struck 
near the place of his birth, took exception. It could not have been a 
cadet from the North who, when called up in the section room, uttered 
the words: "You take this here (rather this-heah or this-yah) equation," 
and, yet, I have heard Southern graduates laugh when the well-worn 
story was told. It could not have been a cadet from the North who. 



1 84 

when he accidentally kicked the heels of another cadet in the ranks, 
asked, abbreviating the name of the person addressed, and which I will 
not disclose : " S , is dem your (rather, you) heels ? " The cadet ad- 
dressed afterwards commanded an Army Corps in the Federal service. 
I do not know the name or subsequent history of the questioner, but the 
gentleman who told me the story, with great glee, was a cadet at the 
time, is a Virginian, and had been a Brigadier General in the Confed- 
erate army. 

It may be objected that what I have written refers, solely, to the re- 
lations which existed among the officers of the army, and does not prove 
that it was not the settled policy and practice at Washington, and, par- 
ticularly in the War Department, to honor, favor and advance Southern 
officers in preference to those who were born at the North. This objec- 
tion can be readily answered. Had there been any such policy and 
practice, the fact would certainly have come to the knowledge of the 
army, and the relations among the officers could not have been as I have 
described them, and as they certainly were. Further than this, it is im- 
possible that, in my many years of intimacy with the army, the subject 
would never have been mentioned in my presence. No word, indicating 
that any one knew or suspected that the alleged policy and practice ex- 
isted, was ever uttered in my hearing. My father and mother were 
warmly attached to their native State, and the fact that an officer, or 
any one, was a native of Vermont, or, I may add, of New England, 
made him (other things being equal) a specially welcome visitor or 
guest. In all the confidences of conversation in the family, or with any 
such visitor, never, when a boy or in my mature years, did I hear a word 
of comment upon tliis alleged policy and practice. Further : I criticise 
no one. It is fair and just to assume that Gen. Keyes had good reasons 
for remaining in a service in which he considered his position one of in- 
feriority; but I am sure that my father would not have retained his 
commission for an hour had he known or suspected that, at Washington, 
or in the army, the fact that he was a native of Vermont was to his dis- 
advantage. I do not believe that either one of the gentlemen, whom I 
have mentioned, Wilkinson, Hampton, Izard, Towson, Scott, Jesup, 
Taylor, and others, in his relations with my father, ever gave the subject 
a thought. 

I will make the concession that I think that I can name two or three 
officers of the army who agree with Gen. Keyes in the substance, if not 
the details, of his opinions. I do not believe that any one of them, or of 
others holding the same. views, could stand a cross examination, and I 
believe that their views would be condemned, almost unanimously, by 
such of the officers as had any experience of ante-war times. 



l8: 



Now, for some specific facts. I have no means for making any com- 
pulation, but I am inclined to think that, in the early days of the Repub- 
lic, under the Constitution, that is, from 1789 till 1812-14, the propor- 
tion of officers of the Army from the Southern and Southwestern States 
was larger than the proportionate population of those States as com- 
pared with that of the Middle, Northern, and Northeastern States. It 
is easy to account for this fact. It should be borne in mind that Ken- 
tucky became a State in 1792, Tennessee in 1796, and Ohio not till 
1802 or 3. The military operations of the United States were against 
the Indian tribes which resided north of the Ohio River. The troops 
who served under Gens. Harmer, St. Clair, Wayne and Harrison were 
mainly volunteers and militia, and came from the neighboring States and 
Territories, largely from Kentucky, and few, if any, from States north of 
New Jersey. The latter States were far from the seat of the hostilities, 
and their inhabitants were not affected by the results of the warfare. 
Naturally, individuals, among all these troops, acquired some taste for 
military life, and, as commissions were obtained by appointment and not 
otherwise, some of them went into the Army. Moreover, many of the 
Northern and Northeastern States were politically opposed to the Ad- 
ministrations of Jefferson and Madison, and it followed that, when ap- 
pointments were to be conferred, they were bestowed upon the friends of 
the Administration and in the States which gave it a sure and solid sup- 
port. It is a curious circumstance, on the other hand, that an examina- 
tion of the list of graduates of the Military Academy discloses an en- 
tirely different condition of affairs, and makes it clear that the ambitious 
young men of the North and Northeast preferred a systematic military 
education to that acquired by the experiences of the service. Accord- 
ing to Gen. Cullom's Dictionary, of the first one hundred graduates of 
the Academy seventy-seven were natives of the Northern States, or, hav- 
ing been born abroad (very few in number) were appointed from them ; 
and twenty-three only were born in or appointed from the Southern 
States. In the computation I credit the latter States with either birth or 
appointment. Strange to tell, eighteen were natives of the little State of 
Vermont and also appointed from it. The list includes the graduates of 
1802 and a portion of the graduates of 1814. The Presidents, during 
this period, were Jefferson and Madison, Southerners and Democrats. 
Clearly, appointments to the Academy were not cov^eted and sought in 
those days, or youths of Southern birth were not favored to the disad- 
vantage of those who were born in a higher latitude. Did those seven- 
ty-seven young men disappoint the hopes of their friends, or had they 
ever occasion to know, or, even, suspect, that their Northern birth was 
an obstacle in their way ? In order to answer the question in the nega- 
tive I will not dwell upon such honored names as George Bomfbrd and 
Rene E. De Russy, of N. Y., and others, but I call attention, particular 



1 86 



ly, to the first graduate, Gen. Joseph G. Swift, of Mass., who resigned 
in 1818 and died in 1865, aged 82; to the tenth, Gen. Joseph G. Totten, 
of Conn., who died in 1864, aged 75, and being then Chief of Engineers, 
and the thirty-third, Gen. Sylvanus Thayer, of Mass., who was retired in 
1863, and died in 1872, aged 83. I do not believe that, among the 3173 
graduates, including the class of 1886, any other three can be named 
whose reputation for solid and real worth, and the fame gained in war- 
fare being omitted from consideration, would surpass that of the three 
whom I have mentioned. I do not doubt that, if any other graduate, all 
being living, should state that his birth-place was ever, in the slightest 
degree, an element in his favor, against either one of the three, the whole 
Army would proclaim him a howling idiot. The contemporaries of those 
three gentlemen, in early life, have answered to the last roll-call, but 
many still remain who knew them personally or by reputation in the later 
years of their lives, and I do not doubt that all of them, Southerners and 
" Sepoys " alike, will agree with me. In order to anticipate a point I 
will add that I am aware that, owing to a difference between Gen. Jack- 
son and Gen. Thayer, the latter resigned the superintendency of the 
Academy, but there is nothing to indicate that the difference was of a 
sectional character. 

Further as to the Military Academy. There are few positions in the 
service more important and more highly prized, or appointments to 
which more signally show the high esteem in which the officers are held 
upon whom the positions are bestowed, than those of the Superintend- 
ent and Commandant of Cadets at West Point. Moreover, there are, 
probably, no persons who do so much in moulding the Cadets, irrespect- 
ive of their class-standing, for their future career of soldiers and gentle- 
men, as do the incumbents of those two positions. As intimated, offi- 
cers are selected for those positions, and do not receive them by seniority 
or promotion. It might be inferred that, if the opinions entertained by 
Gen. Keyes are well founded. Southerners " claimed " those positions, 
and partial or truckling Administrations conferred them upon officers of 
Southern birth. Far different was the case. Of the eight officers who 
held the position of Superintendent from April 15th, 1802, to March ist, 
1 86 1, but one was from the South. He was Robert E. Lee, who was 
Superintendent from September ist, 1852, till March 30th, 1855. Of the 
thirteen Commandants who served from September 15th, 1817, when the 
Department of Tactics was established, to June 25th, 1861, but five 
were from the South, and their united terms of service covered but twelve 
years. Among the Northern men may be mentioned William J. Worth 
(not a graduate), who served for nearly nine years ; Ethan A. Hitchcock, 
who served for four years; and Charles F. Smith, who also served for 
four years. Every one knows that neither of the three, during his term 
of service, could teach or tolerate a sectional feeling, and that with 



i87 

neither would any one have dared to assume an air of superiority by 
reason of the place of his birth. 

In order to show that the opinions of Gen. Keyes are without an ade- 
quate foundation, I now give a wider scope to the inquiry. By the Act 
of March 3rd, 181 5, determining the Peace Establishment, it was pro- 
vided that there should be two Major Generals and four Brigadier Gen- 
erals. Jacob Brown, of New York, and Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, 
were retained as Major Generals, and Alexander Macomb, of New 
York, Edmund P. Gaines, of Tennessee, Winfield Scott, of Virginia, and 
Eleazer W. Ripley, of Massachusetts, as Brigadier Generals. I mention 
them in the order of rank. It is not to be supposed that there was 
any balancing of sections here. Those were retained who had most 
distinguished themselves, and, possibly, because they desired, more than 
others, to remain in the Army. By the Act of March 2nd, 1821, there 
was a further reduction. In the meantime Ripley and Jackson had re- 
signed. The result of the Act was that Gen. Brown became General- 
in-Chief and Gen. Macomb Principal Engineer. On the death of Gen. 
Brown in 1828, Gen. Macomb was selected^ as I understand it, to suc- 
ceed him, but, as Mr. Adams was President at the time, this fact has no 
significance. Gen. Macomb died in 1 841, and Gen. Scott was selected 
as his successor. He was a Virginian as was the President, but I do not 
believe that there was an officer in the Army who did not think that it 
was, in some sense. Gen. Scott's right to succeed to the command of the 
Army. His subsequent achievements, showing, as they did, that he was 
one of the ablest soldiers of the age, proved, also, that the opinion of the 
Army was well founded. 

It is interesting to note, now, who was selected to succeed Gen. 
Scott. Gen. Keyes says : " During forty years before the rebellion it was 
an axiom with the War Department that no officer was fit to command 
an army who was not of Southern birth." In 1841, the officers who, it 
was most probable, would command armies, were the one Major General 
and the two Brigadier Generals, and it became necessary to fill a vacancy 
in the grade of Brigadier General. There were several Colonels of 
Southern birth in the service, and, indeed, the President had the right to 
make the appointment from any grade, or, as I understand, even from 
civil life. Yet President Tyler (John Bell, of Tennessee, being Secretary 
of War, as I have stated) ignored the axiom, and conferred the appoint- 
ment upon Col. and Bvt. Brig. Gen. John E. Wool, Inspector General, of 
New York." He took a fearful risk thus to ignore a self-evident truth, 
and one having the character of a truth of mathematics, and the results 
might have been disastrous. Fortunately, Gen. WooPs subsequent 
career showed the wisdom of the appointment which the President 
made. 



i88 



The recognition of the high character and distinguished services of 
officers of the army is manifested by the mention of their names in re- 
ports and orders, their assignment to special duties (as at West Point) 
by the conferring of brevet rank and by promotions outside of the reg- 
ular course of promotion by seniority. Of all these methods of recogni- 
tion that of promotion is, ordinarily, the most marked and the most 
prized. Such promotion can rarely take place; only when there is a 
vacancy in one of a very limited number of positions, and when there is 
a permanent increase of the army. Such increase has rarely taken place. 
I will refer to the most recent before the civil war, mentioning, at times, 
brevets conferred, and I will prove, so far as the printed matter within 
my reach will permit, that Gen. Keyes's opinion, that Northern men 
were at a disadvantage, is not justified by facts. 

I regret that I have not a complete set of the Army Registers. For 
this reason I am obliged to omit the First Dragoons organized under the 
Act of March 2nd, 1833 (U. S. Stat, at Large, vol. 4, p. 652, ch. LXII), 
and to begin with the Second Regiment of Dragoons, now the Second 
Regiment ol Cavalry, which was organized by an Act of Congress of May 
22d, 1836 (U. S. Stat, at Large, vol. 5, p. 32, ch. LXXX), during the 
second term of Andrew Jackson, and when Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was 
Secretary of War. The three Field Officers were of Southern birth. I 
have no Army Register of the time, and, therefore, cannot write as to the 
Company Officers. It should ever be borne in mind that commissions in 
the mounted regiments have always been particularly sought by Southern 
and Western men, and, therefore, obtained by them. Gen. Jackson's 
personal feelings, whetherof like or dislike, were very strong, but no one 
ever justly charged him with being influenced by sectional considerations 
to the prejudice of the good of the whole country. He dealt sternly with 
nullification. The Colonel of the Regiment was David E. Twiggs, of 
Georgia, who was advanced one grade. Whatever may be thought or 
said of his conduct in 1861, and which, if it was as reported, no one can 
condemn more than I, it cannot be said that the appointment and pro- 
motion were not eminently proper. Col. T. had served in the war of 
181 2-14, and, subsequently, had shown that he possessed great energy 
and activity. He was so much distinguished in the Mexican war as to 
receive two brevets, and the presentation of a sword by resolution of 
Congress. He certamly made his mark in profane history. The Lieut. 
Col. was apparently (the record in the Register is obscure to me) William 
S. Harney, of Louisiana, who was also advanced one grade. He dis- 
tinguished himself subsequently in Florida and Mexico. Gen. Keyes 
gives his own opinion and impressions concerning him on p;^ges 287-9 of 
his book. 1 never saw Gen. Harney but once. In the early part of 1848 
(my father being at the time in Washington as a member of a court- 
martial), I was in Carlisle, Pa., and hearing that Col. Harney was at 



189 

Carlisle Barracks, then used as a depot and place of instruction for 
recruits for the mounted regiments, I called upon him. Except that 
his large stature and stalwart frame were imposing, there was 
nothing exceptional in his appearance and manners. There was no 
coldness in his salutation. He received me as a gentleman, past the 
meridian of life, should receive a gentleman not twenty five years 
old. Conversation naturally turned upon the prospects for brevets on 
account of Mexican war services. He said, very decidedly, that my 
father would receive a brevet, but disclaimed any expectation of one 
for himself. If this was mock modesty the role was well played. 
Certainly, there was nothing to indicate that he thought that he, as a 
Southerner, was entitled to participate in the "lion's share." Gen. 
Harney remained in the service, was retired in 1863, and still lives in 
honorable retirement. The Major of the Regiment was Thomas T. 
Fauntleroy, of Virginia, who was appointed from civil life. I know 
nothing about him except that he resigned in 1861. 

The next increase of the Army was under the Act of July 5th, 1838 
(U. S. Stat, at Large, vol. 5, p. 257, ch. CLXII), and its most important 
feature was the organization of the Eighth Infantry. Martin Van 
Buren, of New York, was President, and Joel R. Poinsett, of South 
Carolina, Secretary of War. The Administration was thoroughly Demo- 
cratic. I am able to write of the Field Officers only. William J. Worth, 
of New York, then a Major in the Ordnance Corps, was advanced two 
grades, and appointed Colonel. He was afterwards brevetted for his 
services in Florida, and again for his services in the Mexican war under 
Southern Presidents. Newman S. Clarke, of Vermont, was advanced 
one grade, and appointed Lt. Colonel. He is one of the officers named 
by Gen. Keyes (p. 158) whose merits he thinks were overlooked and 
ignored because they were of Northern birth. In addition to this ac- 
knowledgment of his merits he received the Brevet of Brigadier General 
for his services in the Mexican War. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, also of 
Vermont, was advanced a grade, and appointed Major of the new regi- 
ment. In 1842 he became Lt. Colonel in the order of promotion, was 
Acting Ins. Gen. in the army commanded by Gen. Scott in Mexico, in 
'47 and '48, and received two brevets for his services in the jVIexican War. 

The next important increase took place under the Act of May 19th, 
1846 (U. S. Stat, at Large, vol. 9, p. 13, ch, XXII), which provided for 
raising a Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. I have not the data at hand 
or within my reach to enable me to write with confidence concerning this 
regiment further than to say that its Colonel was Persifor F. Smith, who 
was born in Pennsylvania and appointed from Louisiana and from civil 
life. He had previously served in Florida and under Gen. Taylor on the 
Rio Grande, as an office of volunteers, was subsequently greatly distin- 
guished in the Mexican war, was selected for promotion to the grade of 



190 

Brigadier General in 1856, and died at Fort Leavenworth in 1858. He 
was probably a soldier by nature, and whether he is to be regarded as a 
Northern or Southern man, it is clear that it was a wise selection which 
brought him into the army. 

During the war with Mexico there was some legislation which affected 
the army and increased it temporarily, but the next permanent increase 
took place under the Act of Congress of March 3d, 1855 (U. S. Stat, at 
Large, vol. 10, p. 635, ch, CLXIX), which provided for four additional 
regiments, two of Cavalry and two of Infantry. Gen. Keyes thinks that 
his merits and those of Col. George Wright and Col. Silas Casey were 
overlooked for the reason that they were Northern men. Let us see. It 
should, of course, be understood that not every act of gallantry or merit 
can be rewarded, or, even, publicly acknowledged. All that an officer 
can expect is that his merits in his life-long career, shall be fairly and 
properly appreciated and rewarded, as compared with the equal merits 
of others. As I write I have before me Gardner's Dictionary, Gen. 
Cullom's and the Army Registers of 1855 and 1856, and they enable me, 
as I think, to controvert successfully Gen. Keyes's statements concern- 
ing the ignoring of the three officers (himself excepted) to whom he re- 
fers, and his statements generally concerning the relative position of 
Northern and Southern men in the matter of the acknowledgment of their 
merits. The new regiments of Infantry were the Ninth and Tenth. The 
register of 1856 show that the Colonel of the 9th was George Wright, of 
Vermont, one of the three neglected officers. In that of 1855 he appears 
as Major of the Fourth Infantry. Feb. 3d, 1855, he was promoted, in 
due order, to the grade of Lt. Colonel. He was then, by selection, ad- 
vanced one grade, and, no doubt, gained from eight to ten years of time. 
He was lost at sea off" the Pacific Coast in 1865. The Lt. Colonel of the 
Regiment was Silas Casey, of Rhode Island, a second of the three neg- 
lected officers, who appears in the Register of 1855 as a Captain in the 
Second Infantry, and was advanced two grades. If it should be asked 
why these two officers were thus signally honored, the answer is found in 
the fact that, though Col. Wright had received one brevet for his distin- 
guished services in Florida and two for such services in the Mexican 
war, and Col. Casey had received two brevets for similar service in the 
later war, and all these marks of the high esteem in which they were held 
were conferred upon them during the administrations of Southern and 
Democratic Presidents, such recognition was not deemed sufficient when 
there was an opportunity to advance them by promotion. The two 
Majors of the Regiment were Virginians, one of whom resigned early 
in the war and took no part on either side, and the other was killed in 
battle in the Confederate Army. Of the ten Captains, all of whom were 
advanced, by selection, from a lower grade, six were appointed from 
Norlhern States, one of whom, however, was born in Maryland and one 



in Virginia. The former was Pinkney Lugenbeel, was a class-mate of 
my elder brother, had received two brevets for Mexican war services, and 
served on the Union side during the Civil War. In Dec. 1855, my 
father inspected the 9th Regt. at Fort Monroe. It was then on the eve 
of its departure for California by way of the Isthmus. The Colonel of 
the Tenth Infantry, advanced one grade, was Edmund B. Alexander, 
born in Virginia, and appointed from Kentucky. He had won two 
brevets in the Mexican war, was on the Union side during the Civil War 
and is now in the Army retired from active service. The Lt. Col. of the 
Regiment, advanced one grade, was Charles F. Smith, of Pennsylvania, 
already mentioned, than whom there have been but few in the service in 
whom the Army generally, and especially the graduates of West Point, 
take more pride. He gained three brevets in the Mexican war, con- 
tributed, largely, to the capture of Fort Donelson, and died all too soon 
at Savannah, Tennessee, April 25th, 1862. I do not hesitate to ex- 
press the belief that, had he been at Shiloh, even in a subordinate 
capacity, the result of the conflict at that place, instead of being nearly 
a disaster to the Union Army, would have been a signal victory. Of the 
two Majors of the regiment, one, William H. T. Walker, advanced one 
grade, had been thrice wounded and once brevetted in Florida, and once 
wounded and twice brevetted in the Mexican war, was a Georgian, and 
was killed in battle on the Confederate side; and the other, Edward R. 
S. Canby, advanced two grades, had been twice brevetted in the Mexican 
war, was a native of Kentucky, but appointed from Indiana, was greatly 
distinguished in the Civil war, and was killed by Modoc Indians in 1873. 
Of the ten Captains, all advanced in grade, seven were appointed from 
Northern States, one of whom, however, was born in Kentucky. 

As already noted, Gen. Keyes, on pages 260 and 261 of his book, 
says : " In those days, however, when Mr. Jefferson Davis was Secretary 
of War, the exploits of Northern officers were not much regarded." 
These regiments were organized by Act of Congress of March 3rd, 1855. 
Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War from March 8th, 1853, till March 
4th, 1857. I have shown what the Register of 1856 discloses as to the 
Field Officers and Captains of the regiments. Is Gen. Keyes mistaken 
or was Jefferson Davis powerless ? 

As to the two regiments of Cavalry, organized under the same Act, 
it is true that a preponderance of the officers appointed to them were of 
Southern birth, but I have already stated that Southern and Western 
men very often preferred and even sought commissions in mounted regi- 
ments. In addition to this, other circumstances may be mentioned 
which tend to deprive this preponderance of the significance which any 
one may think or claim attaches to it, and to show that the appointments 
were not based upon sectional considerations. Of the twenty-eight 
Field Officers and Captains, whose names appear in the Register of 1856, 



IQ2 



at least fourteen served in the Federal Army during the civil war. I 
think it well to name them, as follows: Edwin V. Sumner, William H. 
Emory, John Sedgwick, Delos B. Sacket, Thomas J. Wood, George B. 
AlcClellan, Samuel D. Sturgis, Edward W. B. Newby, George H. Thomas, 
James Oakes, Innis N. Palmer, George Stoneman, Junr., Albert G. 
Brackett and Charles J. Whiting. Of the other fourteen, some, I know, 
were in the Confederate Army, but others had left the service before 
1 86 1, and the residue (all originally appointed from civil life) I cannot 
trace. 

It certainly does appear, as I have already intimated, that the services 
of Gen. Keyes in the operations against the Indians in 1855, 1856, and 
1858, were not duly acknowledged and rewarded. His detailed narra- 
tive of those operations, and of his own participation in them, prove that, 
though he was not in command, the successful result was largely due to 
his skill, activity, and efforts. It is the more strange that he should have 
been overlooked when it is considered that Gen. Scott was in command 
of the Army, he, of whom Gen. Keyes so often speaks as his "hero." 
Gen Scott was a good judge of an officer's merits. 

On pages 430 and 431 of his book Gen. Keyes touches upon a point 
in a letter written by him to Mr. Lincoln, when President elect, which is 
worthy of attention when the comparative advancement of officers of 
Northern and Southern birth is the subject of consideration. He says: 
" But as soon as the cadets are put in commission, it is found that all 
the Southern officers coalesce to assist one another, and that all their civil 
functionaries are on the watch to advance their friends. On the other 
hand, Northern officers, being wholly overlooked by Northern functionaries, 
are divided among themselves, and of those who have spirit and capacity 
some turn doughfaces, and others, the victims of disgust and blasted 
hopes, die early or fall into premature decay of body and mind." While 
I am satisfied that Gen. Keyes, though, of course, unintentionally, grossly 
mistakes the condition of affairs (witness what I have already written 
upon this subject, and the language of Gen. Keyes on page 3 concern- 
ing himself, and the influence, on his behalf, of Lt. Mercer, who, by the 
way, was a grandson, and not a son of Gen. Mercer, and on page 407, 
where he says: "Nearly every benefit I ever enjoyed in the service I 
owed to a Southern man '') there is, I think, some support for the opinions 
expressed by him ; and, such being the case, Northern men had good 
reason for being ashamed of themselves, and all grounds for complaint 
were pretty much taken from under their feet. A narrative which I had 
from my father, sustains Gen. Keyes's views. It should be said, by way 
of premise, that it is far from being the case that brevet rank, or promo- 
tion outside of the due order, is conferred in every case by the administra- 
tion of its own accord. Very often political and personal infliuences are 



193 

potent, and frequently work through devious channels. My father's nar- 
rative referred to a case where personal intluences could have been prop- 
erly employed, but were not exerted when they were sought by him, and 
this, too, on account of party spirit. Gen. Keyes complains that Col. 
Wright's exploits in 1858 were overlooked, I do not know to what ex- 
tent my father and Col. Wright were intimate, but the latter was a native 
of Vermont, and this fact, all other things being as they should be, was 
sure to gain for him special consideration on my father's part. My father 
told me that, when he heard of Col. Wright's successful campaign, it at 
once occurred to him that his friends should suggest to the administra- 
tion the propriety and rightfulness of conferring a brevet upon him. He 
thought that the suggestion should proceed from the Vermont Delega- 
tion, and that he, himself, should not act in the matter unless his opinion 
should be asked. Accordingly, he called upon the Senior Senator from 
Vermont, long since dead, and broached the topic to him. He was met 
by a prompt refusal. The Senator closed by saying : " No, General, we 
have decided not to ask anything from this administration." My father 
went no further; it would have been useless to do so, and, at the same 
time, inconsistent with his self respect. He was not offended, for no 
offense was intended, but he was equally surprised, disgusted, and 
angered, and it pained him keenly that he should be thwarted by Ver- 
monters in his plan, adopted, largely, because he, himself, was a "\^er- 
monter, to obtain a merited honor for a gallant brother officer, then on 
the distant Pacific Coast, who was also a native of Vermont. I soften 
his language when I state that he closed the narrative by saying: "Frank, 
you can march a platoon of such Congressmen through a knot-hole with- 
out their touching." Gen. Keyes, on page 287, says that John B. Floyd's 
treatment of Col. Wright was contemptuous. He does not state any facts 
to sustain the proposition. I, on the contrary, do state facts which show 
how Col. Wright was treated by Vermont Congressmen. 

The facts which I have just mentioned are an illustration of the 
fanatical intolerance, which, in my opinion, as I have already expressed 
it, characterized many of the members of certain political parties in this 
country. My father had no sympathy with this spirit. His long army 
life served to efface any trace of it, if he was ever influenced in any de- 
gree by such feelings. I say " if he was ever " for the reason that, in his 
early years, he was a member of the DeniwCVatic Party, a party whose 
members were, generally, big-hearted, generous, charitable and tolerant, 
and largely imbued with the homely but admirable virtue of attending to 
their own affairs, and not meddhng with those of others, and, particu- 
larly, those of the citizens of other States. They did not claim that they 
composed a " party of high moral ideas," and did not think that matters 
had been so arranged in this world that it was their " mission " on earth, 

13 



194 

and, correspondingly, that it was the duty of the rest of mankind, to be 
regarded by it as a priceless privilege, " where duty is pleasure," that the 
latter should "fall in" before them for inspection and review. Such 
persons have abounded everywhere, and their relative number in any 
community or part of the country depends largely upon the antecedents, 
traditions and history of the inhabitants, their political training and pref- 
erences, and, I venture to add, their religious belief. Whether the Dem- 
ocratic Party, by its characteristics, attracted persons of the other class 
such as I have attempted to describe, or whether it developed and culti- 
vated those habits among its members, it is not necessary to discuss and 
decide. Probably, there was'a reciprocal action between the party and 
its members. The party remains with the same cha7-acteristics. Its 
members still possess the same characteristics^ except such as are mem- 
bers by reason of the influence exerted upon them by former associations, 
or are members " for revenue only." 



^95 



APPENDIX F. 

It would be difficult for a young member of the present generation to 
understand that any place existed east of the Mississippi in 1828 so iso- 
lated, so distant in point of time, and so inaccessible as was Smithville in 
that year. I think, therefore, that a detailed account of the condition of 
affairs may be interesting. 

The only means of communication by sea were sailing vessels. 
We went from New York to Wilmington on a brig which carried passen- 
gers as well as cargo; and, no doubt, there were packets which plied 
between the two ports. But the voyages, which were sometimes made 
in a few days, might have lasted for two weeks or more. In addition, 
the packets were occasionally detained in the ports for wind, or a fair 
wind, or the cessation of a storm. The steamtugs of the present day 
were unknown. If we were suddenly deprived of them now, commerce 
would be paralyzed, as travel is paralyzed when our railways are block- 
aded. Vessels were slowly and laboriously worked into and out of their 
berths by the crew, and the passage to and from the sea, and over a bar, 
through a long, narrow, and tortuous channel, could only be made under 
favorable conditions of wind and tide. A flaw in the wind, or a few 
minutes of calm occurring when the tide was running rapidly, might re- 
sult in the vessel's being driven upon the shoals, and then, if near the 
bar, being knocked to pieces by the waves. The donkey engine, now so 
useful in loading and unloading and in hoisting sails, was unknown. 
With the ports south of us there was no regular communication by sea. 
and those, who wished to go in that direction, were obliged to avail 
themselves of the arrival from Wilmington of any schooner bound for 
the Southern ports. They, too, were subject to the chances of wind and 
tide. I remember that a gentleman from New York, a Mr. Bayard, who 
had spent some days in Smithville, and had been a frequent visitor at my 
father's quarters, twice bade us good by, and as often presented himself 
in the evening, not having been able to "get over the bar." He had 
been much in Europe in the early part of the century, had known Napo- 
leon, and he made a present to my mother of two large damask napkins 
which had belonged to the Emperor and been used at his table, and in 
which were inwoven the letter N and various emblems. 

To the North, our inland communication was by steamboat to and 
from Wilmington. The same steamboat carried the mail. I do not re- 
member whether she made daily trips, though it is highly probable that 
such was the case, but it is my impression that the mail came but thrice 
a week. The sole public means of travel to the South by land was a 
two-horse stage, which left an hour or two after the arrival of the steam- 



196 

boat, and which sufficed for all the land travel in a southerly direction in 
that part of the country. The road was sandy, where it did not pass 
through swamp-land, and the journeying was slow and monotonous. The 
fare at the various roadside inns must have been unsatisfactory. My 
father, who was hospitably inclined, and who was always pleased to be- 
come acquainted with strangers from a distance, often brought a traveler 
to our house for a meal, and, among them, Rt. Rev. John England, the 
first Catholic Bishop of Charleston, 1 820-1 842, sat at the table at vari- 
ous times. I remember that, on one occasion, after tea, when he was 
about to leave the house in order to take the stage for his wearisome 
journey, my father humorously handed him a large loaf of bread, and 
that it was humorously but thankfully accepted. The point was this: 
In those days the people of the vicinity used hot bread almost exclusive- 
ly, and there were many who never saw loaf bread. The materials 
used were wheat flour and corn-meal, which were prepared in numer- 
ous forms and with excellent results, but the food was not always ac- 
ceptable to those who had been accustomed to a different diet. The 
Bishop, who was from "the old country," preferred the loaf bread for 
his journey, and, when I add that my father handed to him, at the same 
time, a bottle of Sherry or Madeira, it will be understood that he made 
his start under favorable circumstances so far as bread and wine were 
concerned. At one time, at my father's instance, the Methodist Church, 
the only church edifice in the village, was opened to the Bishop, who 
spoke from the pulpit. I was present, but, though hearing, I did not 
understand. The Bishop wore some ecclesiastical vestment, and my 
boyish attention was given to the purple fabric which formed a portion 
of its sleeves. 

When a line of steamers was established between Charleston and 
Norfolk, and another between Charleston and New York, a change was 
wrought, and we were put in easy and certain communication with the 
outside world. The Cape Fear River had two mouths: one, the natural 
mouth, was in sight in front of us, and was South of Cape Fear and the 
Frying Pan Shoals, which extended from the Cape into the ocean from 
ten to twenty miles. I had a view of those shoals once from the lantern 
of the light-house, and have seen them since from the deck of a passing 
steamer. The "New Inlet," opened by storms and currents, was from 
eight to ten miles distant, and was North of Cape Fear and the Shoals. 
It was on the North side of this inlet that Fort Fisher was constructed. 
The steamers of the new lines entered the harbor by one inlet and left 
by the other. They thus gained two or three hours of smooth water, re- 
plenished their fuel, and found a place of refuge in stormy or threatening 
weather. They were frail affairs compared with the poorest coasting 
steamers of the present day. The passengers left the steamers as soon 
as they were made fast, and, mostly, directed their steps to the enclosure 



197 

which constituted Fort Johnson. My father formed the acquaintance of 
a gentleman from New York, named Churchill, and, as the steamer was 
storm-staid, we saw much of him and his family. Rev. Dr. Tyng was 
on the same steamer. In the summer of 1835, when in New York, we 
were at the City Hotel, standing on the site now occupied by the Boreel 
Building, and Mr. Churchill, having ascertained the fact, called upon my 
parents, and, with his family, was very attentive to us. His residence 
was in the vicinity. I think that it was on Cedar street, west of Broad- 
way. I remember that, in order to enable my mother to see the growth 
of the city, and its more marked architectural features, he took her and 
others in a carriage to the upper part of the city, and, among other 
things, pointed out the building erected by the University of the City of 
New York, now standing on the east side of Washington Square. 

The amusements and social gatherings of the people of Smithville 
were simple and inexpensive, and, generally, informal. As for the boys, 
of whom I write with knowledge, I think that, with the exception of tops 
and marbles, we made everything which we used in our sports ; traps 
with "figure-four" adjustments, whistles, kites, bats and balls and bows 
and arrows. For arrows we used small shoots of cane, the same which 
is used for fishing-rods, and which, I understand, is not found near the 
Atlantic north of the bottom-lands of the Cape Fear River. 

For some months, during the warm and hot seasons, the population 
of Smithville was largely increased by families from Wilmington. That 
place was above the salt water, and near it were many rice plantations, 
on which it was considered almost dangerous for a white person to pass 
a night in summer. Wilmington was considered unhealthy between the 
months of spring and the frosts of autumn, and the ladies and children 
of many families went to the seacoast and elsewhere. Some who came to» 
Smithville found board, but most, bringing their slaves and some furni- 
ture with them, occupied their own houses, which were closed during 
their absence. 

There were but few visitors at Smithville. Occasionally, a family would 
have, as a guest during the cold weather, a relative or friend from the 
North, but, ordinarily, at that season, there were none but the permanent 
residents in the place. As a matter of course, there were military visitors. 
I remember Gens. Gaines, Scott and Wool, Col. House, commanding the 
1st Art ,and Bvt. Brig. Gen. Eustis, who was promoted to fill the vacancy 
caused by his death. Courts-martial brought a number of officers to the 
post at different times. I remember several, and among them I can 
mention Sec. Lt. Joseph E. Johnston, who, in order to engage me in con- 
versation, affected to take great interest in learning what I had been able 
to accomplish with my bows and arrows. He was distinguished in the 
Mexican war. He entered the Confederate Army, and his career is well 
known. 



I recall, among the persons whom I saw at my father's quarters, a 
son of Prince Murat, Napoleon Achille Murat, who was a resident of 
Florida for some years. 

Smithville was the County Seat, and the Sessions of the Courts gave 
life to the little village. I do not think that any lawyer resided perma- 
nently in the County. The lawyers who attended the courts were from 
Wilmington, which is in New Hanover County, and, possibly, other 
places. My father often invited the judge and members of the bar to 
spend an evening at his quarters, and the dish which was invariably most 
acceptable to those dwellers on fresh water was oysters, which were 
found in abundance near us, and were the property of the public. I do 
not think that they were ever gathered to be taken elsewhere, as mer- 
chandise. They were native oysters, and small in size. It may be a 
remnant of a youthful taste, or, more probably, a youthful appetite, but I 
think that their flavor surpassed that of any oysters I have eaten since. 

Near the Court House stood the Stocks, which were used occasionally 
in punishing persons convicted of minor crimes. 

During the excitement caused by Nullification in South Carolina, a 
Union Meeting was held in the Court House. It was in the evening. 
My father attended as a spectator, but took no part in the proceedings. 
On his invitation I accompanied him. On that occasion I first heard the 
words Union and Nullification. From that evening I was for the Union. 
The soldiers used to tease me by stating that they were all Nullifiers. I 
understood, afterwards, that a copy of the resolutions, adopted at the 
meeting, was sent to Gen. Jackson, and that he was much pleased with 
them, for the reason, in part, that they came from a border county. 

I remember the substitution, on the French vessels, of the Tri-color 
.for the White flag. The soldiers used to tell me that the latter flag was 
merely the table cloth, hung up by the steward, by order of the captain, 
to shake the crumbs out of it. 

The most important event, in my mind, of all that occurred at Smith- 
ville, was the visit of Gov. David L. Swain, Governor of North Carolina 
in 1832-5. He arrived from Wilmington on the steamboat Clarendon, 
which was crowded by the gentlemen who accompanied him. My father 
met him at the wharf, and, on learning that Bvt. Maj. Blaney, who was 
one of the passengers, had arranged that the Governor should visit Fort 
Caswell at once, he went on board and proceeded with the party. When 
the landing was made at Fort Caswell a salute was fired at Fort Johnson. 
After the visit the steamboat was headed to the mouth of the river, and 
soon began to plunge her bow into the long swells, as, heaving and sink- 
ing, they moved up the channel. It was not long before "the country 
members" began to think that "there was no place like" — terra firma^ 
and the course was changed to Smithville, where all disembarked and 



199 

scattered through the village. So anxious was I that everything which 
had been arranged as the ceremonies of the occasion should produce the 
desired effect, that, as soon as I met my elder brother, who had gone up- 
on the steamboat, I asked him whether the salute had been heard at Fort 
Caswell, and was disappointed on his saying that he hardly heard it. 
When the Governor arrived at Fort Johnson another salute was fired. 
He proceeded to my father's quarters for a brief visit, and I, among 
others, was presented to him. He was the first high official, in civil life, 
I had ever seen. I was struck by his gentle manners, and particularly 
noticed his soft hands. In the evening there was a large gathering in 
some part of the village. I was not within hearing, but I understood that 
there were toasts and speeches. I have reason to believe that all were 
patriotic and happy, and that some were fuddled. I understand that 
Gov. Swain was afterwards President of the University of North Caro- 
lina, at Chapel Hill. I heard much of Chapel Hill in my childhood, and, 
on passing through it in 1853, looked around me with interest. 

I have witnessed the reception of Gen. Scott, on his return from 
Mexico, those of Kossuth, the Prince of Wales, and the Japanese Am- 
bassadors, two Inaugurations, and processions not to be numbered, but 
all have not served to efface the impression made upon my mind and 
memory by the reception of Gov. Swain. 

We came from Smithville, as we went to the Cape Fear River, by sea, 
and, as I had never gone beyond Wilmington, in • our seven years resi- 
dence at Fort Johnson, my personal knowledge of North Carolina was 
very limited. In the spring of 1853 it was my good fortune to have oc- 
casion to visit Concord in Cabarrus County, which place I reached by 
rail to Raleigh, and thence in a stage coach, by a lengthened route 
through Chapel Hill, Guilford, Salisbury and other places which I cannot 
now name, to Concord. Returning, I hired a conveyance to Charlotte, 
whence I went by rail to Charleston. I was not prepared to see a 
country so beautiful and so unlike the pine lands of Brunswick County. 
Its rolling surface, its hardwood forests and oak openings, and its rapid 
streams were pleasing to the eye. There were evidences that the countrj' 
was well populated, and, though the fields were far below what I had 
seen in Pennsylvania, in neatness and thorough culture, they and the 
dwellings furnished sufficient indications of industry and thrift. It was 
clearly an old but not a dilapidated country. The towns and villages, too, 
presented the same appearance of being old but not decayed. I remem- 
bered, in passing through one or two places, that 1 had seen their names 
in reading accounts of the War of Independence. 

When, on one occasion, the driver happened to state that we were 



:oo 



approaching the Cape Fear River, or, rather, the most important of the 
several streams, having different names, which, v\'hen united, form that 
river, I alighted from the stage, though it was night time, in order to 
walk over the bridge and view the river more easily. It was a bright, 
starlight night, and I looked with interest on the narrow and shallow 
stream, and my thoughts went back to former years, when I had so often 
bathed in its waters, well salted, 200 or 300 miles below, and fished and 
waded and ''trod clams" (wading bare-footed near the line of the low- 
water mark until, to my joy, one of my feet would come in contact with 
a hard clam, or, more frequently, and to my grief, would be badly cut by 
the razor-like edge of a broken oyster shell which lay embedded in the 
mud) or sailed my toy boats on its surface or moved about in every thing 
which could float, from a " dug-out " to the largest steamboat or sailing 
vessel which was known in that region. 

It was during the night travel of this journey that I heard, for the 
first time, I think, as it was certainly the last, the notes of the post-horn, 
by which sounds the driver made known the approach of the stage to 
the points where the mail was opened, or the horses changed. I do not 
know the compass of the post-horn, but the driver was certainly a master 
of the instrument, and fond of exhibiting his skill. I shall always re- 
member that music with pleasure, and I do not doubt that it was pleasing 
to the ears of the road-side residents who were awakened by it, or by the 
rattling of the stage. 

At one place, and near the commencement of the journey, two Episco- 
palian Clergymen entered the stage on their way to their respective homes 
from a church assembly or convention. I was a hearer of their conversa- 
tion, and was interested in much of it. They spoke of some persons the 
mentioning of whose names brought up old times tome. They spoke 
of what had been said by Dr. Hill, a layman of high position, but why 
styled Doctor I do not know, whose plantation, having the name, I think, 
of Orton, was but a few miles from Smithville. One, who was from the 
extreme west of the State, said that Mr. Curtis had been there on some 
of his botanical tours. When I was a boy Mr. Curtis was a teacher in 
Wilmington, and, in summer, in Smithville, of boys more advanced in 
years than I. He was devoted to botany, and added much to botanical 
knowledge. He became an Episcopal Clergyman, and received the de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity. The plants of North Carolina have received 
much attention from as early as 1776 to the present time. It is supposed 
that a greater variety of trees and shrubs exists in North Carolina than 
in any other State in the Union. Within its limits is the transition line 
between the Northern and Southern Botanical Districts. Many Northern 
plants have their Southern limits within the State, and here, also, some 
which form a peculiar feature of Southern vegetation are first seen. One 



20I 



reason of this is that many of the mountains in the Western part of the 
State rise several hundred feet higher than any others east of the Mis- 
sissippi, and, consequently, upon their higher summits, are found species 
which are not found elsewhere south of the Adirondacks and White 
Mountains. Rev. Mr. Curtis refers to this in detail in a report made as 
long ago as i860. 

So much for Smithville and the Old North State. 



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1902 



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